


Nymph and the corrupted Miraculous

by Child_of_the_Fae



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Butterfly!Marinette, Corruption, Disabled Character, Disabled Marinette, Gen, Kwami Swap, Working title, corrupted Miraculous
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-31
Updated: 2018-06-26
Packaged: 2018-09-21 05:43:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 41,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9534191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Child_of_the_Fae/pseuds/Child_of_the_Fae
Summary: When she was younger, Marinette was involved in an accident that confined her to a wheelchair, but she stayed determined not to let it stop her from living life how she wanted. Then, one day, she comes across a butterfly broach and meets the little Kwami inside names Nooroo.Later on, someone breaks into Master Fu's home and steals all but one Miraculous, corrupting them to do their bidding and handing them out to unsuspecting wielders, corrupting them as well and putting them under the thief's control. All except one, which fall to a new wielder.





	1. Disabled, not helpless

From talking with others who had been involved in life-changing accidents, Marinette knew that some people would forget the incident itself, having only a vague memory it. But for Marinette, her memory of that fateful day was clear. It had been a Wednesday, just after lunch, and Marinette had been heading home with some shopping her parents had sent her to get, she was only a few blocks away from the bakery. She was only twelve at the time.

Marinette stood, waiting for the traffic lights to turn green so she could cross the road. As she waited a painfully familiar voice announced the presence of a person behind her, and Chloe and Sabrina came to stand beside her.

Marinette didn’t remember exactly what Chloe had said to her, just that it was Chloe’s usual way of demeaning her and making her feel small.

And then the traffic lights changed to show the green man, signalling that it should be safe for everyone to cross to the other side. Key word being ‘ _should_ ’.

As a last cruel joke before leaving, Chloe caused Marinette to stumble and almost drop her bags before crossing the road. Marinette scowled at Chloe as she righted herself as she began to cross the road herself.

And then she became aware of a car speeding down the road, a car going way to fast to just stop at the traffic lights, a car that would most likely just speed past the traffic light, a car that was heading directly for Chloe.

Marinette didn’t know what caused her to move, just that she did. One moment she was standing just off the pavement, holding her shopping bags and watching the car speed towards Chloe, the next moment her shopping bags had fallen to the ground and she had launched herself forwards.

“Chloe! Look out!” Marinette screamed.

Marinette felt the material of Chloe’s jacket under her hands as she shoved Chloe out of the way, taking no mind of Chloe’s indignant screech, the blond misunderstanding what Marinette was doing. Then Marinette was slammed into herself, slammed into so hard that she was sent into the air before impacting on the ground near where Chloe was picking herself off of the pavement.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng!” Chloe began angrily.

But then Chloe’s face morphed from anger to that of shock.

“Oh god!” She gasped, bringing her hands to her mouth.

At first Marinette was confused as to why Chloe was shocked over her, but then Marinette’s body finally registered the immense pain through the shock. She tried to scream out in pain but all she could manage was weak moans and cries.

Marinette eventually became aware of Chloe kneeling down next to her, which surprised Marinette because Chloe would never dare dirty her trousers by kneeling on the ground.

“It’s-it’s okay, M-Marinette.” Chloe stuttered. “Everything will be okay.”

Chloe then turned to Sabrina, who looked as shocked and unsure what to do with the situation as Chloe did.

“What do I do?” Chloe asked Sabrina.

“Oh, uh…” Sabrina tried to remember what her dad had taught her. “Try to keep her still and any point of bleeding elevated.”

“Marinette, you need to be still.” Chloe told Marinette.

It was only after Chloe had mentioned it that Marinette realised she was struggling to move, which was only causing her more pain, and did her best to keep still despite the pain making her want to move to alleviate it somehow.

Help quickly arrived and Marinette was picked up and put on a stretcher before being loaded into an ambulance. During the ride Marinette did her best to stay awake like the paramedics instructed her to, but she eventually fell into blissful sleep.

When Marinette woke up she found herself in a hospital bed, her worried parents at her side while a doctor displayed an x-ray to them, explaining the damage that had been done to Marinette and the procedures Marinette would have to go through stop her current condition from worsening. The people in the room became aware of Marinette being awake when she started to cry after the doctor told her parents that, even with the operation she would go through, she would likely never walk again.

After receiving the needed comfort from her parents, Marinette was put back under for the operation to fix her broken bones and other injuries obtained from being hit by the car. Marinette’s broken bones would heal just fine, but just as the doctor had predicted, the damage to her lower spine was too great, and she would be confined to a wheel chair the rest of her life, with only a small chance at being able to walk for brief periods using crutches.

As Marinette recovered from her accident in the hospital, her parents returned home and came across the first problem Marinette’s new disability presented, stairs. The main living quarters were above the bakery, and Marinette’s room in the renovated loft above that, and with their humble baker’s salary they didn’t have much to change the home to Marinette’s new needs, Tom and Sabine didn’t know what to do. As it turned out, the answer came from the most unexpected of places.

Mayor Bourgeois was eternally grateful to Marinette for saving his daughter from the fate Marinette now had, and for her act of heroism, he offered money to renovate the Dupain-Cheng residence to be more wheelchair user friendly, which Tom and Sabine accepted the on Marinette’s behalf. Ramps and stair lifts were added to the home so that Marinette could keep her current room, and the stairs were widened to make room for the stair lifts, Marinette’s stilt bed was changed to a normal bed on the floor while a small lift was installed under the sky light so that Marinette could still reach the small balcony on her roof. The mayor also tried to pay for the other expenses that came with Marinette’s new lack of mobility, but the Dupain-Chengs didn’t want to accept any more charity and insisted they would pay for the expenses themselves.

When Marinette returned home it was a huge relief to her, it was even more of a relief to be able to keep her bedroom. It took her a long while to get used to not being able to walk anymore, there would be more than one occasion where she’d go to stand up only to end up flat on her face because her legs didn’t work anymore, but she remained determined not to let her disability get the best of her, and she would always keep that mindset.

* * *

 

“Mama, I’m going out!” Marinette called to her mother as she heaved herself into her wheelchair.

“Make sure you’re not late for afternoon classes sweetie!” Her mother called after her.

“I will!”

Marinette put her hands to the wheels of her chair and began pushing, the gloves she created herself giving her good grip on the wheels.

It had been two years since her accident and Marinette had gotten used to life without working legs, working on her upper body strength so she could lift herself in and out of her wheelchair and stair lift, and doing her best to prove that despite being disabled, she was not helpless.

Rather than keeping herself confined to the house all day, Marinette made sure to always leave the house at least once a day, even if it was a short ‘walk’ with no destination in mind. But her walks didn’t always have no reason other than getting out of the house, her constant journeying allowed her to find new inspiration for her fashion designing, like when she spotted new flowers in someone’s garden, or witnessing a moment at just the right time to give her a new idea. And if Marinette did have to say, the one advantage to being confined to a wheelchair most the time, was that by putting something flat across the arm rests she could turn it into a mobile drawing desk for when inspiration hit.

Marinette had two different wheelchairs, a manual one that had been fitted for her and provided by the health service, and an electric one that had been given as a birthday gift from a ‘mysterious’ giver, Marinette had her suspicions as to who it was but never bothered to voice them. When Marinette received her wheelchairs, they had been plain-looking, silver metal and black padded seats, which hadn’t suited her tastes at all, so she decided to customise them with the help of her classmates at the time. The fabric of the seats had been replaced with a more colourful fabric with different designs she would occasionally change when she felt like something new, the current designs were a dark blue with colourful butterflies flying around it for her manual wheelchair and flowers for her electric wheelchair. Aside from the different covering, Marinette had left her electric wheelchair mostly alone, it was her manual one that was more personalised, the metal spokes of the wheels had been decorated with beads that moved up and down the spokes as the wheels rolled, some beads where shop bought, some were given by classmates, and others she had created herself, there was protective plastic on both wheels to prevent something getting caught in between the spokes, when Marinette first got the chair the plastic had been clear, but she had then used special paint to put floral patterns on them to make them look nicer.

Though Marinette’s electric wheelchair was more practical, especially when she encountered hills when she went out, she preferred to use her manual wheelchair. The more personalised wheelchair gave her a sense of independence and accomplishment when she wheeled herself around instead of relying on a motor rolling the wheels for her. Sure, it made getting around harder, but that only made the sense of accomplishment all the more better when she managed to get past the harder parts of her journey.

Today, Marinette had a destination in mind, one that provided her plenty of inspiration for her fashion designing, or when she simply wanted to draw, she pushed herself down the familiar path and up a hill she was used to struggling up, eventually accepting the help of a passer-by to make it the rest of the way, and then she arrived. It was an old mansion that had been there long before she was born, and apparently, no one had lived in it since before she was born either. Vines crawled the gate and walls, flowers blooming wildly everywhere, a pond of the property somehow remaining with clear water, and a large circular window reflected the sun, despite its abandoned state the mansion remained beautiful, people’s natural wariness of the place had kept vandalisers from ruining its beauty. But Marinette didn’t understand why people would want to keep away, she had the opposite reaction, she was enticed, she wanted nothing more to see what the inside looked like, rather than looking in from the fence.

Marinette spent the next hour contently drawing things she spotted in the mansion’s garden, stopping only to eat the lunch that she had packed. There was a bird hopping about on a branch, dragonflies skimming about over the pond, some flowers midway through blooming, a pure white butterfly.

Marinette paused in the middle of her drawing to look again, but she couldn’t spot the butterfly she had seen.

“I guess it flew off.” She muttered.

Marinette then looked at her watch and her eyes widened at the time, it was getting time for afternoon classes, and if she didn’t leave now she would be late.

“Lunch passed quickly.” Marinette said to herself.

Marinette turned her wheelchair around and began her way to college.

A white butterfly watched her go.

* * *

 

Marinette arrived at the college in time and wheeled herself up the ramp, as she entered the building she looked over to where her classroom was, on the first floor.

A few years ago this would have been a major problem for Marinette. Before, anyone who had trouble getting up the stairs would have just been moved to a class on the ground floor, there wasn’t anything on the upper floors that couldn’t be accessed on the ground floor, so it wasn’t seen as a problem. But after her accident, Marinette insisted on staying in her usual class on the first floor, and with some help from an unexpected source the principle was convinced to put effort into making the college more all-inclusive, such as installing new ramps and a lift to the higher floors. So, Marinette wheeled herself into the lift and pressed the up button, the lift taking her to the first floor. After the doors opened, she wheeled herself out and towards her classroom, though the open door.

“Mari!”

Marinette inwardly cringed at the happy voice as arms uncomfortably wrapped around her, probably giving her new bruising from how tight they held her.

“I was worried when you weren’t home when I went to get you.” The owner of the voice pouted.

“I just went for a little trip.” Marinette placated. “I’m fine, Chloe.”

Chloe continued to pout.

“But what if you’d fallen over, I wouldn’t have been there to help you.” She said.

“You know me better than that, Chloe, I don’t fall over. And even if I somehow had, I’m sure I could have picked myself up.”

Chloe gave a small ‘harrumph’, not convinced.

Marinette still found it extremely weird to have Chloe acting so buddy-buddy with her, even after two years, how Chloe acted towards her previously still imprinted firmly in her mind. After saving Chloe from being ran over by a car, the blond’s attitude towards Marinette took a total one-eighty, going from hating the aspiring designer to being her self-declared best friend.

But just because Chloe didn’t bully her anymore, didn’t mean she didn’t cause problems for Marinette.

Marinette often felt like Chloe treated her like a charity case, using the fact that she had a disabled friend who she constantly went out of her way to help to bolster her social status, adults believing Chloe to be a wonderful example of a child because of this. Another problem with Chloe, that despite Marinette always showing she could be independent and that she wouldn’t let her disability limit her, Chloe treated her like she was helpless and fragile, acting like the simple task of going to and from the college was a momentous task for Marinette that she needed help with and that Marinette was helpless without her. Marinette always did her best to correct Chloe, telling her that she could do things on her own and didn’t always need help, and sometimes she would get through to Chloe, but then a few hours later Chloe would default back to normal.

And there was also the fact that while Chloe didn’t bully Marinette anymore, it didn’t mean she didn’t bully others. Chloe would always throw her weight around to get what she wanted, not caring, or probably even realising, how she made others feel in the process, as far as Chloe was concerned, she was always right and things should always go her way, and she didn’t like it when she was challenged. Marinette did her best to tone down Chloe’s behaviour, and to a certain extent it did work, she didn’t blow up at people she felt wronged her as much as she used to, but other times Chloe would drag Marinette into her argument, using her position as Marinette’s ‘best friend’ to bolster her argument, making it seem like Marinette was on Chloe’s side to others because she couldn’t get a word in to correct them.

Don’t get her wrong, Marinette liked it that Chloe didn’t bully her anymore, but sometimes she felt like best-friend-Chloe was worse than bully-Chloe.

Marinette wheeled over to the desks and parked her wheelchair next to the wall, she then reached behind her to fetch her crutches. Unsteadily, and with great effort, Marinette used her crutches to rise to her feet.

Though Marinette would always need her wheelchairs to get around, her spine and legs had healed enough that she could manage brief moments of standing as long as she had support, but it was a strain for her to do and there were days where she just wouldn’t be able to manage it. It had taken Marinette endless determination and countless hours of physical therapy to be able to stand using crutches, and even then, she could only manage it for a minute or so, but she refused to give in or give up.

Marinette’s desk was on the second row, up some steps. She should have been on the first row, or even stayed in her wheel chair and used that as a desk, like Chloe never stopped insisting, but Marinette remained stubborn in not wanting to let her disability limit her. Still, Marinette knew that she shouldn’t overshoot herself, and so settled on the second row rather than farther up.

“Here.” Chloe said, grabbing one of Marinette’s arms and supporting her back.

Without needing to be called, Chloe’s other ‘best friend’, because Chloe was allowed to have two best friends if she wanted, Sabrina came and supported Marinette’s other side.

As much as Marinette wanted to insist she could manage it on her own and as much as it pained her to admit it, on most days, Marinette did need help to reach her desk. It was a relief when Marinette could finally drop into her seat.

“You should really stay in your wheel chair.” Chloe repeated what she always told Marinette. “Why do you always insist on straining yourself?”

“To prove that I can do it.” Marinette gave her usual answer.

Chloe gave Marinette an expectant look.

“With some assistance.” Marinette admitted.

“Thank you.” Chloe said.

Chloe and Sabrina took their seats next to each other as class began and Marinette sighed, already feeling that it was going to be a long day.


	2. Trail of butterflies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette finds something unexpected

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your feedback and enthusiasm in the last chapter, I have made some changes to the previous chapter from the feedback I was given, so you may want to go back and read it again.

After afternoon classes finished, Chloe attempted to bring Marinette over to her hotel to hang out, pushing her wheelchair instead of letting Marinette push herself, but Sabrina had unintentionally came to her rescue when she reminded Chloe that she had a hair appointment, so Chloe had left in favour of the appointment. Instead of heading for home once she was left alone, Marinette decided to head back to the mansion, she hadn’t finished her drawings before having to leave for college.

Marinette pushed herself along the familiar path, using an alternate but longer route to avoid having to struggle up the hill that was on the usual path. She eventually reached her favourite spot to draw at, it gave her the best view of the mansion and the garden, she then took out her drawing book and began to finish the sketches she had. Unseen by her, pure white butterflies appeared nearby.

But as she began drawing, she caught something out of the corner of her eye and turned to look at it fully, surprised at what she saw. The gate was open.

For as long as she had known about the mansion, Marinette had never seen the gate open before, and according to what she’d heard, no one had seen the gates open for a very long time either. But here they were, open for anyone to walk inside. Or wheel inside.

Marinette knew that she shouldn’t, the gate being open most likely meant that there was a new owner of the property who was looking around it, and that in doing it she’d be trespassing. But she really wanted a closer look at the garden, to see it close up rather from the other side of the fence, she couldn’t help it.

‘I’ll only take a peek.’ She told herself. ‘Just a little look can’t hurt.’

So, against better judgement, Marinette wheeled herself through the gates of the mansion to look at the garden.

The garden was even more beautiful up close, the flowers and the shade cast by the trees, even the overgrown parts held beauty to them. Marinette sighed and picked up her drawing book and pencil again, adding the detail that she was finally able to see to the drawings she already had. And making new ones.

As she drew, lost in her own world, Marinette failed to take notice of the pure white butterfly that few above her and landed on the back of her wheelchair, or a second one that landed on her wheelchair as well, and then more came. It was only when moving shadows distracted her from her drawing that Marinette realised she was surrounded by butterflies, some perching on her wheelchair while others remained floating around her. Marinette gaped at them, amazed at what was happening.

Marinette held out a finger and to her shock, a butterfly landed on her finger, and then a few more on the rest of her arm. She then lowered her arm and the butterflies lifted back into the air, but instead of settling back where they were, they started flying down the path, other butterflies following them. Marinette pouted, thinking the butterflies were leaving and her special moment was over, but some still remained with her and the flying butterflies backtracked to her before flying back again.

“What the?” Marinette quietly questioned.

A butterfly then briefly landed on her nose before flying off again in the direction of the others.

“Do…do they want me to follow them?” Marinette asked herself.

As if triggered by what she said, the butterflies began flying quicker around her, circling around behind her before going forward and back again.

Not really understanding what was going on, Marinette decided to give it a go and pushed herself along after the butterflies. As she pushed herself, Marinette noticed that she was gliding along without needing to put much effort into pushing her wheels, almost as if she was being lightly pushed, she turned her head but only saw the butterflies who had rested on the back and were lazily flapping their wings. And it couldn’t be them, right? She decided that she was just going slightly downhill without realising it.

Marinette eventually came to a stop with the butterflies at the closed door to the mansion. One of the butterflies then landed on the handle and, as if by magic, the door opened.

“What? How is that possible?” Marinette asked.

The butterflies started flying through the gap in the door while others remained flying around her, as if urging her to go inside.

“No.” Marinette said. “I’m already not supposed to be here, I’m not going inside the building.” She didn’t know why she was telling this to a bunch of butterflies who probably couldn’t understand her.

But the butterflies only flapped their wings harder in response, circling around her.

“No.” Marinette insisted.

Marinette put her hands to her wheels and tried to push backwards so that she could turn around, but the wheels wouldn’t budge, she looked behind her to see what could be blocking her but only saw the butterflies. Experimentally, she pushed the wheels forward and she moved forward with surprising speed, but when she tried to get back to where she previously was, the wheelchair wouldn’t move. Some sort of force was only allowing her to go forward, into the mansion.

After a few more minutes of struggling and getting absolutely nowhere, Marinette eventually gave up and pushed herself through the door and into the mansion, still with little effort when pushing her wheels.

The inside of the mansion was almost untouched by time, with a surprisingly small amount of dust covering everything. The furniture was covered with tarps to keep the dust off, a large crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling and light shone through the curtain-less windows. The inside of the mansion held an almost ethereal feeling.

As Marinette wheeled herself further in, the door suddenly slammed behind her and the butterflies scattered around the room. Marinette, now in full control of her wheelchair again, turned and tried to pull the door as best as she could without falling out of her chair, but the door refused to budge.

“Great.” Marinette groaned. “Trapped.”

Marinette decided to call for help to get her out of the mansion, but when she reached into her bag she couldn’t find it, she racked her brain trying to remember where it could be and then groaned even louder when she realised she had left it at home.

As Marinette looked up from her own pity party she noticed that the butterflies were still seemingly trying to lead her somewhere, so, with no better options, she continued to follow them until she reached a set of stairs. The stairs where the usual type found in mansions, two curved staircases either side of a gap that joined at the next floor. And the butterflies were flying up them.

“How am I going to get up there?” Marinette asked out loud.

Some of the butterflies that had remained around Marinette flew between the two staircases, stopping at a set of golden doors, but when Marinette pushed herself after them she realised that the doors were actually the doors of an old-fashioned elevator.

“Would this even still work?” Marinette asked out loud again as she leant forward and pushed the call lift button.

The was a second of silence, but then the grinding of gears and creaking of metal behind the doors before they opened up with a groan, showing the inside of the gold and red elevator.

Marinette cautiously wheeled herself in but then stopped when she was halfway in.

“Actually, this doesn’t seem very safe.” She said.

But the inside of the elevator was lower that the outside floor, so when Marinette briefly took her hands of her wheels, the wheelchair dropped the rest of the way in with the same unusual quickness that had taken her to the mansion, the butterflies that had followed her inside quickly finding rest on her wheelchair. Given that she was already inside, and considering what had already happened when she tried to resist, Marinette gave up and pressed the elevator button for the next floor.

With the same worrying noises as before, the elevator doors closed and the lift began to ascend. During the entire trip, Marinette kept a tight grip on her armrests, fearing that the lift would suddenly break and send her all the way back down with a crash. But the lift arrived at the next floor with no problem and the doors opened, Marinette wasted no time in wheeling herself back out, feeling much better now that the wasn’t inside the elevator anymore.

Now on the upper floor of the large mansion, the butterflies quickly began making a trail for Marinette to follow again, which she did because she had already come this far by following them. The butterflies led her down a hall and past some doors until they reached a door at the very end of the hall, the door was different to the ones she had already passed, the wood was darker with designs of different animals, primarily butterflies, etched into the surface.

A butterfly handed on the doorknob but it didn’t open like before, the pure white insect just remained resting there. Unsurely, Marinette reached forward and the butterfly flew off the doorknob as her hand drew near, she griped the knob and gasped when it felt warm to the touch, she then turned her hand and the door opened slightly. As Marinette opened the door the rest of the way, the butterflies that had been flying around her or resting on her wheelchair flew through the gap in the door, leaving her alone in the hallway, the opened the door the rest of the way to reveal a dark room, around a hundred pure white butterflies standing out in the darkness as they flew around the room.

As Marinette pushed herself inside the dark room she noticed that the butterflies seemed to be circling something, she pushed herself closer the butterflies began landing on what they had been circling and disappeared into it, like they were dissolving into light, causing Marinette to gape in shock. Soon, all of the butterflies had disappeared into the object, which gave off a weak purple glow.

“What is happening right now?” Marinette questioned.

Marinette hesitantly approached the object but it didn’t react in any way, the pushed herself until she was beside it and then lent over to get a better look at it. It seemed to be a purple broach with four wings coming out of it. Carefully, she bent over and managed to pick up the broach, sitting upright and rubbing her belly after her armrest had dug into it.

“What is this?” Marinette questioned again, running a finger over the jewel.

As Marinette examined the broach she found a gap running around it with tiny hinges to one side, meaning it was also a locket, she opened it but there was no picture inside, only a tiny mirror that reflected her face back at her.

Marinette then almost let go of the locket/broach when a blinding purple orb of light emerged from it, when the light died down she could see and small floating creature in front of her opening its eyes and looking at her.

Marinette screamed.

The small creature winced and covered its ears, backing away from the screaming girl.

“A bug! A mouse! A…bug-mouse!” Marinette scream as she backed away.

“Please stop screaming.” The creature begged. “I know you’re scared but-”

“Ah! Bug-mouse talks!” Marinette screamed again.

In her scramble to get away, Marinette almost toppled her wheelchair, one wheel briefly leaving the floor. The fear of falling over briefly overwrote her fear of the small creature as she stopped screaming and trying to escape to right herself, once that was done she put a hand over her rapidly beating heart.

“Have you calmed down now?” A small voice asked.

Marinette turned her head back around to face the small creature, who was looking at her nervously, and looked ready to start it all over again.

“Please don’t scream again.” The creature begged. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

“W-what are you?” Marinette asked warily.

The creature sighed in relief, happy Marinette wasn’t going to fall back into another screaming fit.

“My name is Nooroo and I am a Kwami.” It answered.

“A what?” Marinette asked.

“A Kwami. I am linked to that Miraculous in your hands and can grant powers.” Nooroo explained.

Marinette held up the broach, which had lost its colour and was now a dull grey.

“This?” She asked.

Nooroo nodded.

“What do you mean, ‘grant powers’?” Marinette asked, half believing that she was just having a strange dream.

“The Miraculous are seven magical pieces of jewellery, and they grant those who wield them extraordinary powers, transforming them into heroes. My Miraculous gives the powers to create champions.” Nooroo told her.

“Champions? Okay.” Marinette said, not really knowing what it meant. “And where are these other Miraculous?”

Nooroo looked down sadly. “I don’t know. The Miraculous are usually watched over by the Guardian, but he moves around a lot depending on where he feels the Miraculous need to be, so I don’t know where he is.”

“Are you alright?” Marinette asked the Kwami, seeing he was upset.

“I’m alright.” Nooroo said. “I’ve just been alone here for so long.”

“Yeah, what are you doing here in the first place? Your…Miraculous just gathering dust on the floor?” Marinette asked, looking around the room.

“This is the home of my last wielder.” Nooroo said, looking slightly sad. “He passed away unexpectedly, leaving my Miraculous on the floor when he was taken away. When no one came to claim me, I retreated back inside my Miraculous until I was found, but no one came.”

“I did.” Marinette pointed out.

“Yes, I finally got tired of waiting and decided to try and make someone find me.” Nooroo said.

“You mean those butterflies that disappeared into this thing?” Marinette asked, holding up the broach.

Nooroo nodded. “Kwamis can briefly leave their Miraculous without a wielder, but it takes a lot of energy, when I sent out my butterflies they saw you always visiting this place while all others remained wary, so they opened the way for you.”

“So, there’s no one else here, the gate being open was the work of your butterflies?”

“Yes.” Nooroo said.

“Where are the butterflies anyway? They all disappeared.” Marinette said.

“They are resting.” Nooroo answered. “Like me, their spirits cannot exist outside the Miraculous for long.” Nooroo then faltered in his floating. “Speaking of which, do you mind putting it on? Close proximity only does so much.”

Marinette pinned the broach to her shirt, but when she looked back at Nooroo she frowned because he didn’t seem to be getting any better.

“It’s not working.” She worried.

“I’m just hungry.” Nooroo told her. “I haven’t eaten in a long time.”

“What do you eat?” Marinette asked as she held a hand out, wondering if she had any of her lunch left in her bag.

Nooroo gratefully landed on her outstretched hand.

“Fruit, usually bananas and oranges.” He replied.

Marinette winced, she didn’t have any of that in her bag.

“Tell you what.” She said, smiling at the Kwami. “Why don’t we leave and go get some?”

“Sounds good.” Nooroo agreed.

Marinette turned herself around and pushed herself back through the door into the lighter hallway and then down the hallway. She reached the lift again, and with no alternate way back down, she reluctantly took it to return to the ground floor, exiting it as quickly as she could as soon as the elevator doors opened. She then began to push herself towards the front door.

“Wait!” Nooroo called from where he had been resting on Marinette’s lap.

“What?” Marinette asked as she came to a stop.

“I need you to collect something first. It won’t take long, I promise.” Nooroo begged.

“It better not be back upstairs.” Marinette told him.

“It’s not. Just in a room that way.” He said.

Nooroo pointed down a hallway next to one of the stairs and Marinette pushed herself towards it, the Kwami then pointed to a door that she opened and wheeled inside.

The room was lined with bookcases, the many books inside visible through the glass doors. In the middle of the room was a desk, surprisingly not covered in tarp like the other pieces of furniture. The room was obviously some kind of office.

“It should be in the top right draw of the desk.” Nooroo said.

Marinette pushed herself over to the desk and opened the aforementioned draw, revealing a large, heavy envelope inside, the paper brown with age.

“That’s it.” Nooroo said.

“What is this?” Marinette asked as she took it out of the draw and put it in her bag.

“I’ll tell you later.” Nooroo promised. “We can leave now.”

Marinette pushed herself back the way she came until she reached the front door, she put her hand on the handle and sighed in relief when it turned, opening in the door. She sighed when she emerged from the mansion and into the daylight, the door closing behind her. She then pushed herself down the garden path and out the front gate.

“What about the gate?” Marinette asked, looking at the still open gate. “They look to heavy for me to pull.”

“Don’t worry.” Nooroo told her.

Just as Marinette was about to ask what he meant, a sudden gust of wind blew the doors of the gate shut and the latch fell down keeping them closed, startling Marinette.

Marinette then shrugged as she turned and headed for home.

* * *

 

Marinette arrived home after having stopped by a shop to pick up some bananas and oranges for Nooroo, said Kwami was currently resting out of sight in her pocket.

“I’m home!” She called as she parked her wheelchair in its usual spot.

She grabbed bag and heaved herself onto the stair lift to take her to her family’s living quarters.

“Welcome back, sweetie.” Her mother said from the top of the stairs.

Sabine grabbed the fold-up wheelchair that Marinette used to get around the house and folded it out for Marinette, but she let Marinette heave herself into it instead of helping her because she knew how much her daughter valued her independence.

“Dinner will be in an hour.” Sabine told Marinette as she pushed herself into the living room and over to the stairs up to her room.

“Okay.” Marinette said. “I’ll get a start on my homework in the meantime.”

Marinette heaved herself into the stair lift that led into her room and then leaned over and folded up her wheelchair to take up with her, she then ascended into her room, closing the trap door after the stair lift had made it through. She then unfolded her wheelchair again and slipped into it, pushing herself over to the small table in her room and placing her bag on it.

Nooroo flew out of Marinette pocket as she took an orange out of her bag, peeled it and split it into segments before giving it to him, the Kwami sat on her table as he happily munched on the fruit. After a few segments, Nooroo already looked much better.

“Thank you.” Nooroo said.

“It’s no problem.” Marinette smiled at him.

As Marinette waited for Nooroo to finish his fruit, she took notice of the broach still pinned to her chest.

“You said this thing grants the wearer powers, right?” She asked. “Why?”

Nooroo was silent for a moment, debating the best way to tell Marinette.

“In the universe, there exists two forces, equal and opposite. One good and one bad. These two forces don’t have defined boarders though, or selected members, anyone and anything can exist on either side. When the forces of evil begin to arise to cause chaos, the forces of good are called upon to stop them. The Miraculous were created to serve on the side of good, if someone evil appears the Guardian will hand out the Miraculous necessary to the right people to stop them.” He explained.

“Are there any evil forces now?” Marinette worried.

Since she now wore a Miraculous, she was worried that it meant that evil had arose that she would have to stop, which would be hard considering her limitations.

Nooroo shook his head. “No. That’s only when the Guardian hands them out, you found me, and as long as you don’t transform nothing should come of that.”

“What?” Marinette asked.

“Universal balance between good and evil, I’ll explain another time.” Nooroo waved her off.

“Okay.” Marinette accepted. “Speaking of the Guardian, since you don’t know where he is, you can stay with me until you do.” She offered.

Nooroo brightened. “Thank you.” He said.

As Marinette waited for Nooroo to finish his fruit, she was struck with the urge to draw, today’s experiences had left her with so much inspiration for her designs. She reached into her bag but paused when she saw the envelope Nooroo had her bring from the mansion, she resolved to ask the Kwami about it later, once she had got her inspiration out onto paper, so she grabbed her design book and opened it up to draw, getting lost in her designs.

“Marinette, dinner!” Marinette eventually heard Sabine call from downstairs.

“Coming!” Marinette called back. “Can you stay up here?” She asked Nooroo.

“I’ll be fine.” Nooroo assured her.

Marinette made to leave but then realised she was still wearing the broach, which her parents would notice and question, and she wasn’t good with coming up with excuses on the spot.

“Will you be okay if I leave this up here while I eat?” She asked.

Nooroo thought about it.

“I think it will be for a while, but come back up as soon as you can.” He answered.

“I will.” Marinette promised.

She took off the broach, laying it on the bed before leaving.

* * *

 

With her belly full, Marinette happily took her stair lift back to her room, as she closed her trapdoor and eased herself into her wheelchair she noticed something different about her room. It was covered in pure white butterflies.

Marinette looked around, at a loss with so many butterflies in the room, covering her stuff.

“Nooroo!” She called, quiet enough that her parents wouldn’t hear her. “Where’d all these butterflies come from.

Nooroo floated over from the bed, carrying his broach.

“They were getting cramped in there, so I let them out.” He said, giving the broach to Marinette. “When I’m active, they usually stay out of the broach as well.”

“There a lot of them.” Marinette worried, putting the broach on. “Mum or dad are going to see them if they come up here. And it will be hard getting around with them covering everything.”

“We can work something out. Just, please don’t send them away or back into the Miraculous.” Nooroo begged.

Marinette looked at Nooroo and sighed in defeat at his sad eyes.

“You know what, I’ll deal with it tomorrow.” She said. “Right now, I’m going to bed. Today has been hectic.”

Marinette went through her room, the butterflies scattering and landing elsewhere as she went, and gathered her pyjamas before changing into them, transferring her broach into one of the pockets. She then went over to her bed and lifted herself onto it, scattering more butterflies in the process, burying herself under the covers and switching off the light. As she began to drift off to sleep, Nooroo settled himself down on the top of her pillow and the butterflies settles, some choosing to settle on top of Marinette. And in her bag, the envelop lay forgotten.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you have probably seen, the title has now been change to Nymph and the corrupted Miraculous and Marinette future hero name will be Nymph as voted by you. But, I had an idea to make a reference to a cartoon Thomas Astruc worked on called W.I.T.C.H., in which there was a powerful nymph called Xin Jing who that characters learn about when they are told the story of her by one of their grandmas. So, we can either keep Marinette’s future hero name Nymph, or we can have Xin Jing as a reference to W.I.T.C.H. and the Chinese side of Marinette’s heritage.  
> Also, I am taking suggestions for names and looks for the good versions of the Akumatised characters from the show.


	3. Miraculous Mansion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette is surprised to learn a Miraculous isn't the only thing she gets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took so long, it was slow to write.

When Marinette woke up the next morning she debated whether or not it was worth opening her eyes, because when she did it would either confirm that yesterday’s events had all been a dream, or that they had been real and she really was looking after a little butterfly creature called Nooroo. But, she eventually did have to open her eyes and get ready for the day.

Marinette opened her eyes and was greeted with the sight of Nooroo sleeping next to her head on the pillow, and pure white butterflies littered about her room, including on her bed. It wasn’t a dream then.

She used her arms to push herself up and rest against the headboard, stretching her arms and yawning. Her actions stirred the Kwami and butterflies, sending them scattered through the room.

“Morning, Marinette.” Nooroo said as he floated up from her pillow.

“Morning, Nooroo.” Marinette replied.

Today there was no college, but Marinette knew she wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep, so she went through her daily routine of washing and putting on her new clothes. When she had first done all this, it had been hard without the use of her legs, but over the last two years, Marinette had grown accustom to everything and was now able to do them without a thought or any trouble.

After her morning routine, Marinette frowned at the amount of butterflies still in her room.

“There isn’t much room in here for them.” She said.

Marinette then remembered her small rooftop balcony with her collection of plants.

“Will the butterflies be alright outside?” She asked Nooroo.

“As long as the weather’s nice and they can come back inside, yes.” The Kwami answered.

Marinette sighed in relief and went over to the small lift that led to her rooftop balcony, she then pressed a button and the skylight opened. Most of the butterflies flew out of it where they settled on Marinette’s balcony, only a few preferring to remain inside where they were.

“Much better.” Marinette smiled.

Instead of going downstairs for breakfast, Marinette grabbed and ate some of the fruit she had bought for Nooroo along with some milk from her mini-fridge. Marinette sometimes ate her breakfast upstairs when she didn’t want to go through the effort of going downstairs to eat, which was why she had a minifridge in her room.

Marinette then wheeled around her room, gathering what she would need for the day, but when she went to put them in her bag she found the envelope from the mansion still inside, having forgotten about it.

“Hey, Nooroo, what’s this?” Marinette asked, holding up the envelope for the Kwami to see.

“Some documents that you should read.” Nooroo told her.

Marinette eyed Nooroo suspiciously, she had a feeling he wasn’t telling her something. She then shrugged and opened the envelope, pulling out some legal-looking documents and began to read.

The documents were mostly about the mansion’s property, the garden and building, everything inside of the fence. But the last page was the deed to the mansion along with a will from who Marinette assumed was the last owner.

 _‘Upon my death, if I fail to create and heir to bequeath my home and possessions to, ownership shall instead fall to the person comes into possession of and is accepted by this:’_ It then showed a picture of the broach that Marinette was now wearing.

Marinette blinked at the paper and read the passage again, she then placed the paper down and rubbed her eyes before picking it up and reading again, but it still read the same.

“Nooroo, is this real?” Marinette asked.

Nooroo nodded.

“Am I really the new owner of that mansion?” She asked again to clarify.

“Yes.” The Kwami answered. “If he didn’t manage to have any children, my last owner wanted his home to go to my new wielder. There are a few issues with just leaving the mansion to whoever found a bit of jewellery, but he couldn’t exactly mention about the Miraculouses and Kwamis, so it’s the best he could do. And he did it with the intention that he would be able to return me and that envelope to the Guardian, but he passed away before that could happen.”

“I guess that’s better than just giving your home to whoever first finds and picks up the broach from the floor.” Marinette said. “But still, I don’t know how well all of this is going to hold up if I take it to someone to claim the place. And I still technically broke into the place to get these, that’s considered stealing.”

“Oh, I hadn’t thought of that.” Nooroo said sadly.

“It doesn’t matter anyway.” Marinette told him. “A place that big isn’t really for me.”

Marinette set the papers aside and cupped Nooroo in her hands to comfort him.

“Besides, I’d rather not take that lift ever again.” She added.

Nooroo smiled back up at her.

“Marinette, Chloe is here!” Marinette then heard her mum call up the stairs.

“Hide!” Marinette exclaimed.

Marinette chased the rest of the butterflies out her skylight while Nooroo hid under her pillow, only a few seconds later, Chloe burst through the door.

“Mari!” Chloe cried out happily, pulling the other girl into a hug.

Marinette uncomfortably let it happen, knowing from experience that trying to get out of one of Chloe’s hugs was impossible, and the blond never picked up on how uncomfortable Marinette was or when she tried to push her away.

“Chloe.” Marinette said with slightly forced happiness. “What are you doing here so early?”

“Can’t two friends just hang out?” Chloe asked.

“I guess…” Marinette said unsurely.

“And I was wondering if you could design me an outfit for a gala I’m going to.” Chloe quickly added.

“And there it is.” Marinette said, rolling her eyes.

“Come on, Mari, it’s not like you don’t get anything out of this.” Chloe said.

“I know.” Marinette sighed.

Thankfully, this wasn’t just Chloe taking advantage of Marinette’s kindness to get whatever clothes she wanted, there was no way Marinette would ever allow that to happen, Chloe did pay for the dresses Marinette made her, and it also gave her designs good publicity to have the mayor’s daughter wear them.

Marinette grabbed her tape measure and measured around Chloe’s body, taking note of the measurements that were different from the last time she made Chloe and outfit. She then picked up her design book.

“Any styles you have in mind?” She asked Chloe.

“Ooh, something royal looking.” Chloe said excitedly.

Marinette decided to keep her ‘of course’ silent.

As Marinette sketched out different clothing design, Chloe decided to take a wander through Marinette’s room, and her eyes quickly wandered to the papers Marinette had put down earlier. Unnoticed by Marinette, Chloe read through and then screamed when she got to the will, startling Marinette.

“What?” Marinette asked as she turned to look at Chloe, eyes widening when she saw what the blond held.

Chloe looked over at the broach Marinette wore and then back to the picture on the will, grinning excitedly.

“You own a mansion now?” She exclaimed.

“Well…technically yes.” Marinette said.

“This is great!” Chloe said happily. “We could turn it into our own little place, and by that, I mean big place. We could have parties there, and all sorts of other things.”

“Chloe!” Marinette interrupted the blond’s tirade. “I said that technically I am. I don’t think I’ll be able to claim the place just because I found a broach.”

“Don’t worry, daddy will make sure it does.” Chloe then stopped, something occurring to her. “How did you get these, anyway?”

Marinette looked down and mumbled an answer.

“What was that?” Chloe raised an eyebrow.

“I went to the mansion for inspiration and saw that the gate was open and went in to take a better look at the garden, I then lost control of my wheelchair and ended up inside of the mansion since its door was open to, and I found the broach and document when trying to get out.” Marinette said, bending the truth slightly and leaving out the butterflies and Nooroo. “That’s why I can’t claim the place, I technically stole them, I didn’t mean to though.” She insisted.

Chloe looked thoughtful. “You’re right, that would make it hard to claim the mansion, even with daddy’s help. Does anyone else you about this, your parents?”

Marinette shook her head. “I only just read the documents myself before you arrived.” She said.

“Good.” Chloe said. “That will help.”

Chloe then put her fingers to her chin, thinking hard. Marinette wondered that if Chloe thought any harder, if smoke would come out her ears, she wasn’t used to seeing the girl thinking so hard, usually Sabrina did everything for her.

Chloe then slammed her fist into the palm of her hand as she got an idea. “That’s it!” She exclaimed. “Just mail it to yourself.”

Marinette was confused. “What do you mean?” She asked.

“Pretend to receive this all from some mysterious sender through the mail, making it seem like it was intended for you. It’ll be more accepted than you ‘stealing it’.” Chloe said, quoting with her fingers.

Marinette was surprised. “That might actually work.” She said.

“Of course it will.” Chloe said confidently.

Chloe quickly searched around Marinette’s room, finding a box to put the documents and broach in while Marinette put the documents back in the envelope. While Chloe wasn’t looking, Marinette peeked under her pillow to look at Noorro, who had heard the whole plan.

“Do you need to go back in the broach for this?” Marinette whispered.

Nooroo nodded and disappeared back into his Miraculous, the broach regaining its colour. Marinette then took it off.

“Wasn’t that just grey a second ago?” Chloe asked, looking at the broach.

“Oh, uh, it might be one of those metals that changes colour with heat.” Marinette gave a weak excuse.

“Who would make something that goes from purple to grey when you wear it?” Chloe asked, buying Marinette’s lie.

Marinette shrugged. She then put the envelope and broach into the box Chloe had found and taped it up, writing her address on the top.

“Right.” Chloe said, holding up her phone. “I’ll have Sabrina come pick it up and then drop it off ‘mysteriously’ later.”

Marinette rolled her eyes, Chloe could do it herself, but she was being lazy and getting Sabrina to do it for her like she usually did.

Sabrina quickly arrived, it was expected since she didn’t like to disappoint Chloe.

“What do you need, Chloe?” Sabrina asked eagerly.

“I need you to take this and leave for a few minutes before dropping it back off at the side door and ringing the bell, make sure you aren’t seen as well.” Chloe said, pointing at the box.

“What’s inside?” Sabrina asked, looking curiously at the box and Marinette’s name on the front.

“That’s doesn’t concern you.” Chloe said sternly. “And don’t look inside.”

Sabrina cringed a bit at being talked to in such a way and pouted at Chloe not telling her everything like she usually did.

“I understand, Chloe.” Sabrina said meekly.

“Chloe, don’t be harsh on her.” Marinette told the blond. “Thanks for doing this.” She said to Sabrina.

Sabrina didn’t reply, just picking up the box and leaving.

Chloe frowned as Sabrina left. “What is that girl’s problem?” She asked aloud. “Sorry, I’ll talk to her, again.” She said to Marinette.

“It’s fine, really.” Marinette insisted.

On the inside, Marinette was a bit sad. For some reason, Sabrina never really clicked and became friends with her like Chloe had, and unless Chloe ordered her otherwise Sabrina wouldn’t interact with her, Marinette got the feeling that the only reason Sabrina came near her was because Chloe was with her.

Chloe didn’t look convinced, but Marinette quickly managed to distract her by continuing her designing and showing Chloe what she already had for her.

A while past before the girls heard a faint knocking, a few seconds then past before they heard Marinette’s father call up to her.

“Marinette, there’s a package here for you!” Tom called.

Tom soon appeared, pushing open the trap door with the box they had given Sabrina under his arm.

“Someone just left it outside the door, and there doesn’t seem to be a return address.” Tom commented.

Marinette took the package, faking surprise, and Tom went back downstairs, the bakery was still open after all. Marinette opened the box and put the broach back on, Nooroo not coming out just yet, she then waited a few minutes before shouting out excitedly.

“Mum! Dad!” She cried out.

This time it was Sabine who arrived, Tom staying down in the bakery to tend to the customers and watch the oven.

“What is it?” Sabine asked her daughter.

“Look! Look!” Marinette insisted, holding out the will to her mum.

Sabine took the paper and began to read.

“Marinette owns a mansion now.” Chloe said happily, unable to contain the news any longer or wait for Sabine to finish reading for herself.

Sabine looked up from the paper and at the broach Marinette was wearing, then back at the paper again.

“Is this what was in the box?” Sabine asked.

Marinette nodded. “Is it real?” She asked, pretending not to know the answer.

“I-I don’t know.” Sabine said. “I’ll have to talk with your father first, we can shut the shop for a short while after the lunch rush and go over it. But don’t get your hopes up, dear, I don’t think it’s likely for you to just receive ownership of a house through the mail, and I don’t recall having any relatives who owned a mansion to pass it down to you.”

“Well if it is real.” Chloe interrupted a little forcefully. “I’m sure my father would be more than happy to help with any legal issues.”

“Uh, thank you, Chloe.” Sabine said.

Sabine then went back downstairs to the bakery, taking the paper with her.

“Now, it’s only a matter of time.” Chloe said happily.

Marinette just sighed in exhaustion, she found that being around Chloe for an extended period of time tended to sap her energy rather quickly.

After a while, Chloe eventually went home, bored of waiting for something to happen, she had tried to convince Marinette to hang out with her but Marinette decided she wasn’t feeling like going out just yet, and she had the excuse of waiting to talk to her parents, so Chloe left without her.

Once Chloe was gone, Nooroo popped back out of the Miraculous, sighing in relief.

“Are you alright?” Marinette asked the Kwami.

“I’m fine.” He said. “So, what’s going to happen?”

“I’ve told my parents, now we just have to wait and see.” Marinette said.

Marinette passed the time by catching up on the episodes of a show she had been watching. Eventually, the lunch rush came and went, allowing her parents to briefly close the bakery to talk about the package that had been ‘delivered to’ Marinette.

It was a long talk about whether the documents were real and who could have sent them, talking about taking them to get authenticated and asking Marinette if she had been in contact with anyone lately, which she denied. Tom suggested that he take the papers to be authenticated to make sure they weren’t someone playing an elaborate joke, which Sabine and Marinette agreed to. Marinette reluctantly reminding her parents of Chloe’s offer to help, knowing the blond really would be able to help in this situation. After they were agreed on what to do next, Tom and Sabine reopened the bakery to tend to the customers who had been waiting outside.

* * *

 

Marinette sat in front of a desk with her head resting in her hands, Sabine sat on her right while Chloe, who had invited herself along, sat impatiently on her left as they listened to the lawyer drone on as he looked over the papers. Marinette was so bored that she was contemplating banging her head on the desk to distract from it all.

“Well, Miss Dupain-Cheng,” The lawyer finally concluded. “These seem to be real, you really have just been given a mansion. You say you received these through the post?”

Marinette nodded.

“I do not mean to offend you, but do you have anyone to back up these claims?” The lawyer asked.

“She has me.” Chloe said. “The mayor’s daughter.” She stressed her father’s title.

“We just found it dropped off on our doorstep, no return address.” Sabine said.

The lawyer nodded. “I’ll speak with my colleges and see if I can get proper ownership of the estate turned over to you, of course it will under the care of you parents until you come of age that is. But I should warn you, this isn’t going to be instant, due to the unusual way you have come into possession of the deed and that you have no apparent relation to the previous owner of the estate, that are going to be people contesting the legitimacy of your claims.”

“I understand, sir.” Marinette said.

“Don’t worry, Marinette,” Chloe said. “Daddy will make sure those people won’t give you trouble.”

“Chloe.” Marinette said warning.

She didn’t want Chloe to do anything bad like threaten those who would contest her claim into silence. Chloe waved her hand at Marinette and rolled her eyes, as if she knew what Marinette was thinking and was insisting that she wouldn’t.

The meeting came to a close and they headed back home, waiting to hear what would be happening.

* * *

 

As predicted, the road to owning the mansion was a rocky one. Several people came out of the woodwork, claiming to be relatives of the previous owner of the mansion and as such the property should go to them, and the several more who just doubted the legitimacy of Marinette’s claim and didn’t want her to get the property. Even with Chloe’s influence, it was still an uphill battle.

A battle that went on for a few months in fact, until a letter arrived for Marinette that brought an end to it all.

“This is it.” Marinette said with a sigh, opening the letter.

Personally, Marinette didn’t care whether she got the property or not, she just wanted the entire hassle to be brought to an end already, she only reason she had gone through with it all was because of Chloe’s pushing and it was Nooroo’s old home, and the Kwami would be heartbroken if it was taken away.

“What does it say? What does it say?” Nooroo asked eagerly.

Marinette read the letter, skimming across the lines until it got to the point.

“‘We are pleased to inform you that the property, number 16 Maville Road, now officially belongs to Miss Marinette Dupain-Cheng. But until you become of age, ownership of the properly will be controlled by your parents, Tom Dupain-Cheng and Sabine Dupain-Cheng.’” She read, grinning wide.

“Yes!” Nooroo celebrated.

The butterflies swarmed around the room at the Kwami’s happiness before Marinette chased them out again.

After the butterflies were gone and Nooroo had calmed down enough to hide, Marinette called for her parents to share the news.

“This is excellent.” Sabine said happily. “I’m glad all your effort didn’t go to waste.”

“So, uh, what do we do now?” Marinette asked.

Beyond just getting ownership of the property, Marinette didn’t have any plans for it after that, maybe she could have use for it in later life, but nothing came to mind for how she currently was.

“Well, we could go check the mansion out.” Sabine suggested.

“And you could invite your friend, Chloe, to join us, she did care a lot about you getting it after all, it’s only fair that she sees the place too.” Tom said.

“Sure.” Marinette agreed.

Tom and Sabine made preparation to leave to visit Marinette’s new mansion while Marinette herself was left with the duty of informing Chloe that she had gotten the property. After Marinette’s ears had stopped ringing from Chloe’s excited scream at the good news, she invited Chloe to visit the mansion with her and her parents, to which the blond eagerly agreed.

So, that afternoon, Marinette found herself reluctantly being pushed down the pavement by Chloe while her parents walked beside them, though she wasn’t so reluctant when it came to the hill that Chloe pushed her up without a word.

“My, this is a beautiful place.” Sabine said as they walked through the gate and into the mansion grounds.

“It could use a little trimming, though.” Tom commented, looking at all the overgrown plants and weeds.

“I’m sure I can find a good gardener to fix it up.” Chloe said. “Then we can have picnics out here during the summer.”

Marinette nodded in agreement.

They reached the front door and Marinette pulled out the key that had been sent to her, handing it to her dad to open the door. They all went inside, only for Chloe to quickly wheel Marinette back outside when she saw the state of the inside of the mansion.

“No way, we’re not going in there.” Chloe said. “It’s full of dust and obviously a health hazard.”

“Chloe, you’re over reacting, it’s just a little dust.” Marinette said.

“Hate to say it, but I’m going to have to agree with Chloe.” Tom said, emerging after a few minutes inside. “We’ll need to get someone to take a proper look at the place, but I can already tell there are a few areas that are unsafe, especially for your wheelchair.”

“Really?” Marinette asked.

Marinette hadn’t seen anything beyond the dust when she had first gone inside, other than the worrying sounds of the elevator when it went up and down, but she had also been guided by magical butterflies and a Kwami.

“Looks like you girls won’t be having any sleepovers inside any time soon.” Sabine said as she closed and locked the door.

Chloe pouted and even Marinette felt a bit disappointed.

“It’s going to take a while to get someone to come take a look, assess what needs to be fixed, and then get people to do renovations.” Sabine continued. “And it won’t be cheap either.”

“I can have daddy-” Chloe was quick to offer.

“That’s alright, Chloe, but you and your father have already helped out so much.” Sabine interrupted. “And this isn’t going to be in any hurry, is it sweetie?” She turned to her daughter.

“I’m fine if it takes a while.” Marinette said. “Besides, we can still hang out in the garden. Can’t we?”

Tom and Sabine looked up at the mansion, assessing what the outside looked like.

“As long as you don’t go inside, you should be fine.” Tom concluded.

“I suppose that’s better than nothing.” Chloe said, still feeling disappointed. She then perked up. “We can have a small party out here to celebrate you getting the mansion. After we get a gardener to clean it up, of course. Ooh, let’s go decide a theme.”

Marinette rolled her eyes but gave a small smile as Chloe wheeled her back out through the gate, prattling on about her plans, Tom and Sabine closing the gate behind them and heading back home, waving goodbye to their daughter.


	4. Fall of four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone break into Master Fu's house with their sights set on the Miraculous

Master Fu sighed as he closed up his shop for the day, the day had been uneventful as usual, except for one thing. He peaked out his window to see the same person waiting outside with a hat and sunglasses hiding their face, Fu had spotted them lingering outside his shop all day, but when he would go to confront them they would mysteriously disappear.

“Is that stranger still out there, master?” Wayzz asked.

“Yes.” Fu said. “But they have not given any indication to their intentions. But just in case, activate the defensive charms.”

Wayzz nodded and floated over to the wall, pressing his antenna against it, a symbol lit up from where he touched the wall, and then more symbols lit up along the wall, spreading out until they covered all of the walls. The symbols eventually faded away, leaving the walls blank again, but there was now a thrum of magic in the air.

“Hopefully, if they are ill-intent, that should keep them out.” Fu said.

Fu made himself some tea and made preparations for dinner, as he was preparing he looked out the window again to find the stranger nowhere in sight.

“Maybe the protections scared them off.” Wayzz suggested.

Fu hummed, feeling that Wayzz wasn’t right.

Still, Fu was confident in his defences and finished making dinner, eating his meal before retiring early to bed.

Outside, a mysterious figure watched from the shadows with a grin.

* * *

 

It was 3 AM, the witching hour, when all should be asleep, but there was someone who wasn’t. They crept across the street towards a massage shop, their form illuminated by the street lamps. As they stepped closer, a glowing dome of symbols flashed over the house, keeping them from advancing any further.

“Child’s play.” The stranger scoffed.

Reaching inside their pockets, they produced a glowing rock and stick, screwing the glowing rock to the end of the stick, the stranger placed it at the base of the protective dome before lifting it up. The protective dome rippled as it was lifted up by the glowing rock, almost as if it was fabric, leaving space underneath for the stranger to slip under and inside without touching the protective dome themselves.

“Too easy.” The stranger commented.

The stranger left the stick in the ground to hold up the protective dome for an easy escape.

The next obstacle was the lock on the door, but it only took the stranger a few seconds to pick the lock and open the door.

Their footsteps were quiet, barely a sound being made, as they wandered into the house.

“Now, where would that old man keep them?” The stranger whispered to themselves.

They felt around until they felt a draw that led them to a door, quietly and slowly opening it they found it to be Fu’s bedroom, the old man sleeping on a futon.

‘Of course.’ The stranger though, not daring to wake Fu up by speaking aloud. ‘Now, where are they.’

The stranger crept around the room, feeling for the presence to get stronger, until they came to a stop in front of a gramophone.

‘Yes, I feel them in here.’

The stranger picked up the gramophone, nearly exclaiming from the unexpected weight of it, but managing to keep silent. They then began to slowly navigate their way back around the room, not out of stealth but from the weight of the gramophone. What the stranger failed to notice was the Kwami who had been asleep inside of the horn of the gramophone, who was now very much awake from the constant shifting, and it only took Wayzz a few seconds to realise what was going on.

“Master! Master!” Wayzz launched himself out of the gramophone. “There’s a thief in the room!”

Fu was awake and already rising from his bed to face the intruder.

“So, much for stealth.” The stranger muttered as he quickly ran for the door.

“No!” Fu shouted when he realised what was being taken, giving chase.

The stranger quickly disappeared from sight, easily able to outpace the old man, but Fu had a trick up his sleeve.

“Wayzz, Shell Strong!” Fu wheezed.

In a flash of green light, Fu was dressed in Chinese-style green clothes, complete with a mask. In his powered form, Fu was able to catch up with the thief, who had just made it passed the protective barrier again, smacking the gramophone out of their arms. The gramophone fell to the floor and the horn broke off, but Fu didn’t care about that right now, all he cared about was defending what was inside the gramophone from the thief.

“Who are you, and why are you stealing from me?” Fu demanded.

“I’m surprised you do not recognise me, Xuanwu.” The stranger said. “And I’d hardly call it stealing, I’m merely claiming what should be mine.”

“You remain unknown to me.” Fu said, shifting into fighting stance. “And the Miraculous do not belong to you.”

“Oh, they will.” The stranger promised.

The stranger quickly attacked and Fu blocked with their shield shaped like a turtle shell before making an attack of his own which the stranger easily dodged. Fu attacked multiple times but each attack was dodged or blocked by the stranger, who didn’t seem to be breaking a sweat.

“Face it, old man.” The stranger sneered. “Your age has caught up with you, you’re just too weak.”

The stranger kicked Fu away from them, sending him to the floor.

“And, I’ll be taking these.” The stranger walked over to the broken gramophone and picked it up. “Still heavy.” They complained.

“Then let me lighten the load.” Fu said, getting back up and charging at the stranger.

The stranger raised the broken gramophone in front of them to protect themselves and the attack connected, knocking it from their hands, but also cracking it open to reveal a large ornate box inside.

“Well, thank you.” The stranger grinned at Fu. “That does help lighten the load considerably.”

Fu scowled and attacked again, this time managing to land a few hits on the stranger.

“Huh,” The stranger said, rubbing their chest. “I’m impressed, I actually felt that. But, I am done playing now.”

The stranger brought out their staff and aimed it at Fu, energy firing out of the end that he was too slow to avoid, he cried out as he was sent to the ground, unable to get back up.

The stranger walked over to the ornate box and picked it up, they opened it and looked at the jewellery inside.

“Let’s see; Bee, Fox, Ladybug and Cat, that makes four.” The stranger counted each of the Miraculous inside, opening the small compartment inside to look at the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous. “And I know where the fifth lies.”

The stranger turned back towards Fu, who was struggling to get up, and stamped on his back to keep him down.

“You still have something I need.” They said.

The stranger leaned down and grabbed hold of the bracelet around Fu’s wrist, ripping it off and returning Fu to an ordinary old man.

“No!” Fu cried out.

“Yes.” The stranger laughed darkly.

The stranger put the bracelet in its place in the box, but they failed to note that it was colourless, meaning the Kwami was not inside. In one last feeble effort to stop the stranger, Fu grabbed their ankle as they walked away while shutting the compartments in the box, tripping them up and almost causing them to drop the box. But the act did cause the Miraculous inside to go flying to the ground, a green blur quickly grabbing one of them out of sight before the stranger could notice.

“You’re really getting annoying now.” The stranger said as he kicked Fu in the head, knocking the old man out.

The stranger picked up the Bee, Fox and Turtle Miraculouses, the compartment doors to the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous were shut and they couldn’t see either on the ground, meaning the Miraculous were safely sealed away in there.

With no further interruptions, the stranger walked away and disappeared into the shadows.

Once they were gone, Wayzz came out of hiding and flew over to Fu.

“Master! Master! Please, wake up!” Wayzz cried.

Fu groaned and weakly opened one of his eyes, it was clear that he wouldn’t remain conscious for long.

“Wayzz,” Fu said weakly. “I am sorry, I have failed you, I have failed all of you.”

“All is not lost yet, Master.” Wayzz insisted.

Wayzz showed the Miraculous he had rescued from the stranger, it wasn’t his own but it was one of the most important. Fu saw the Miraculous and smiled.

“Good.” He said. “Wayzz, you must hide them before the thief comes back for the earrings and before you are forced to return to your Miraculous. Here is no longer safe.”

“Why can’t you hide them?” Wayzz asked desperately.

“I’m afraid that I wouldn’t get very far. Now, go!” Fu commanded his Kwami.

Tears dripped from Wayzz eyes as he nodded and flew off in search of a suitable hiding place for the Ladybug Miraculous from the stranger. He eventully found one and place the earrings in the hiding place, it admittedly wasn’t good, but it was the best he could do with his small size and limited time. As soon as he had hidden the earrings, Wayzz no longer had the energy to live outside of his Miraculous without a wielder and faded away, pulled back into his Miraculous.

A couple of hours later, Fu was found unconscious by some early-morning joggers, who were quick to phone for an ambulance to take him to hospital.

* * *

 

Lights switch on as the stranger entered a large room, placing the ornate box on a stone table with symbols etched onto the surface. They opened up the box and began taking out the Miraculous inside, placing each on a different section etched into the table, only to pause when they opened up the compartment for the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses, the Cat was there but the Ladybug wasn’t.

“What? No!” They shouted.

The stranger tipped the box upside down and shook it violently, as if the Ladybug Miraculous was somehow stuck inside. Failing that, they then smashed the box around repeatedly until it broke, but that didn’t reveal the earrings inside either.

“I must have left them back there.” The stranger growled.

The stranger whispered some words while touching the carved table and the symbols began to glow, creating a magical cage around the table to keep the Miraculouses inside. They then left in search of the Ladybug Miraculous.

They arrived at the place where they had battled Fu, only to find it blocked off by police tape with many people wandering around to try and get a look, it seemed that Fu had already been found. Still, that wouldn’t stop them.

The stranger, staying hidden, put out a hand and concentrated, feeling everything within the area, but they failed to feel the presence of another Miraculous.

“The old man must have already found it.” They growled. “Still, no matter, I will recover it eventually.” They then left.

They returned to their large room and regarded the four Miraculous they did have.

“Without all seven I cannot yet perform the ceremony.” The stranger mused aloud. “But I do not know where the other three lie, no doubt the old fool has already hidden the Ladybug away since he is now so defenceless, he may have even already given it to a new wielder.

The stranger then grinned, an idea forming.

“If the other Miraculous are wielded by others, then what is best to draw them out than something for them to fight, or someone?”

The stranger walked over to the Miraculous trapped on the table and looked at each of them.

“I may not be able to use perform the ceremony, but I have enough power to turn one for a short time. The question is, which should I use?”

They waved their finger around in a circle, pointing at each of the Miraculous, weighing the pros and cons of using each, until they finally landed on one.

“Of course.” They said, reaching into the cage. “Who better to receive the Ladybug than their own partner?”

They picked up the Cat Miraculous and examined it before taking it over to a different table with symbols carved into it, they used some chalk to write some more symbols on it before using an ornate-looking knife to cut the palm of their hand and letting the blood drip into a small well in the table, they placed some candles at strategic points on the table before setting down the ring in the middle and lighting the candles.

Feeling that was something was going on, Plagg emerged from the inside of his Miraculous.

“What’s going on?” He asked as he took in everything around him. “Who are you?” He demanded when he saw the stranger.

“I’m your new Guardian.” The stranger said.

Plagg looked sceptically up at him. “No, you’re not.” He said, unconvinced.

“Well, I am. And you’re going to help me retrieve the others, a Guardian should have all of the Miraculous after all.”

“There is no way that I’ll help you, not even for all the Camembert in Paris.” Plagg argued.

“After this spell, you’ll be all too eager to help me.” The stranger said with a disturbing grin.

“What?” Plagg looked around the table he was on, eyes widening when he realised what the stranger was talking about.

“No! No, don’t!” Plagg tried to escape but was stopped by a magical barrier.

But the stranger remained unaffected by Plagg’s pleas and began the incantation.

Feeling that something was happening with Plagg, the other Kwamis emerged from their own Miraculouses and were horrified by what they saw.

“Plagg!” They cried out in worry, unable to get past the magical cage that contained them and their Miraculouses.

The stranger continued to chant, as he did the blood in the small well began to travel along the carved symbols in the table until they were all red, contrasting against the white chalk symbols, darkness then began to emerge from nowhere and wrap around the Kwami and ring.

Plagg cried out with pain but the stranger continued their incantation.

The other Kwamis also cried out with pain, feeling the feedback from Plagg.

Eventually, Plagg was forced back into his Miraculous and there was a bright explosion of light, when the light faded the stranger looked back on the table and laughed in triumph. The other Kwamis looked at the table to and cried out with horror, seeing the corruption coming off of the ring, having a more jagged appearance and the paw pads now claws.

“No!”

“Plagg!”

“You monster!”

The Kwamis cried out.

“Pipe down or you’re next!” The stranger threatened.

They would be next anyway soon enough, but they didn’t know that.

The Kwamis went quiet and were eventually forced to return to their Miraculous without any wielders to keep them around.

“Now,” The stranger said, holding the ring aloft. “The duty of the Guardian is to find suitable wielders. So, who should I choose as my minion?”

The stranger looked out of their window, over-looking Paris as they contemplated their decision.

* * *

 

Meanwhile, Marinette was sleeping peacefully with Nooroo also asleep by her head and a handful of butterflies scattered about her room. Marinette had managed to convince Nooroo to keep the majority of them back at the mansion’s garden where they’d be happier and less conspicuous, but allowed a few to stay.

Suddenly, Nooroo jolted from his sleep with a cry of pain, clutching his head and tears springing from his eyes. Marinette was woken by his screaming but didn’t have time to question what was wrong before she felt a sharp pounding in her head that then spread to the rest of her body, gritting her teeth to avoid screaming as well, she felt fear and anger but these emotions were not her own.

The pain and foreign emotions soon faded, but left behind aftershocks that left Marinette constantly shivering and feeling like she was going to puke. Nooroo, however, looked much worse.

“Nooroo, what’s wrong?” Marinette asked gently, scooping up the Kwami into her hands. “What was that?”

Horror was plastered over Nooroo’s face. “Something’s happened to Plagg! Something absolutely horrible!” He cried.

“Who’s Plagg?” Marinette asked, doing her best to sooth her Kwami.

“The Kwami of the Cat Miraculous.” Nooroo whimpered. “Someone bad must have gotten their hands on it, and they’ve done something to it. It hurts to reach for him.”

It took a while to get Nooroo to calm down, Marinette was still shaken herself, the Kwami constantly muttering about Plagg and the darkness he felt, not even attempting to eat the mashed-up banana Marinette had given him.

“Why did I feel it too?” Marinette eventually decided to ask.

“The Butterfly Miraculous is very receptive to the emotions of others, especially those we are close to their wielder, it is how we choose our champions. And even though you haven’t transformed yet, you are still the wielder of the Miraculous and as such have a connection to me, and since I felt the pain Plagg went though, you also felt it, but to a lesser extent.” Nooroo explained.

“I felt horrible.” Marinette admitted. “I can’t imagine Plagg having to go through worse.”

The ‘but he did’ went unspoken.

“I wish I could help him.” Marinette said.

Nooroo then brightened.

“Maybe you can.” He said.

“How?” Marinette asked.

“My using your Miraculous. We can use it to find Plagg and stop whoever did that to him.”

“But, how? I mean, I don’t like to bring attention to my disability, but I’m not exactly going to be beating any bad guys while stuck in a wheelchair.”

“You can create champions to help.” Nooroo said. “They can search for you and…But, oh…They won’t have incentive though.” He then drooped.

“Incentive?” Marinette asked.

“A reason to join your cause. Champions are usually created in times of trouble, when the Champion has reason to accept the power, without a proper reason the connection between the Campion and wielder is very weak. Though, with what’s happened to Plagg, we may get some incentive for Champions soon.” Nooroo said, depressed.

Marinette sighed. “Look, I’m really unsure about this right now, and it’s still the middle of the night, we should go to sleep and think about this more in the morning.” She said.

Nooroo nodded in agreement.

Marinette and Nooroo settled back down into their sleeping places, but sleep refused to come again, leaving the both of them lying there in silence until day came.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter, we may or not see Marinette become the Butterfly hero, it will depend on how much I’ll write before that point, but we’ll definitely see who the corrupted Miraculous goes to in the next chapter. So, place your bets now.  
> It’s still a tossup on whether Marinette’s hero name will be Nymph or if it will be Xin Jing (which is the name of a powerful nymph from W.I.T.C.H.) So, which would you prefer?  
> Also, I have some concept art for Butterfly Marinette that you can look at and make suggestions for. http://dreamvixen2511.deviantart.com/art/Butterfly-Marinette-concept-664565041  
> And I have some alternate Ladybug costumes, one of which, the Ladybug in this story will be wearing; so, cast your vote on which of the alternate costume designs you prefer or any changes that can be made to them. http://dreamvixen2511.deviantart.com/art/Alternate-Ladybug-costumes-665255174


	5. Corruption of youth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the first day of the college year, and a few people are in for a surprise.

Marinette felt like a zombie as she went about her morning routine, barely able to summon the energy to lift herself in and out of her different wheelchairs. Because of her rude awakening full of pain and hurt in the middle of the night, Marinette had been unable to return to sleep, the aftershocks of whatever happened to the Cat Kwami keeping her from rest, the same went for Nooroo. The little Kwami was just as tired at her, slumping wherever he was instead of floating like he usually did, Marinette had to manually pick him up to take him with her, but what worried Marinette the most was how Nooroo looked ready to break down at any moment, still reeling from whatever happened to his fellow Kwami.

If it were any other day, Marinette would have just suggested going back to bed, maybe a long relaxing bath first, and phone off sick from college. But she couldn’t do that because today was the first day of the new school year, her last year at college, and she didn’t want it to seem like she was one of those students who tried to extend their holidays by not going in.

“Are you alright, Marinette?” Sabine asked her daughter when she saw the state of her.

“I’m fine.” Marinette replied. “I’m just a bit tired.”

“Did you stay up designing again?” Sabine asked.

“Yeah.” Marinette lied.

Sabine sighed. “I’m going to start locking your stuff away at night to make sure you sleep.” She teased.

Marinette would have joked back, but she just didn’t feel like it today.

After breakfast, Marinette gathered her things for college and headed downstairs to where her wheelchairs waited for her. She would usually lift herself into her more personalised and manual wheelchair, but the heaviness in her arms and the general feeling of not being all there told her that it wouldn’t be a good idea. So, she reluctantly heaved herself into her electric wheelchair, the fabric feeling stiff and a bit uncomfortable, having not worn in like her manual wheelchair because of its lack of use.

“Marinette, wait.” Tom called to his daughter before she could leave.

Tom gave her a box of macaroons, the box decorated with the symbol Marinette had designed for the bakery.

“To share with your class.” Tom explained.

“Thanks, dad.” Marinette said.

Marinette wheeled out of the door and to the traffic lights that led across to the college, the little man turned green and Marinette crossed without any problems, continuing on her way to college.

Marinette’s class, like the previous few years, was on the second floor, so she rolled herself onto the elevator and took it to the next floor. When she reached her classroom, she was surprised to find a girl she’d never seen before sitting in the seat next to where she usually sat in class, a spot that was usually empty since Chloe had a habit of scaring off potential desk mates. Though, Chloe wasn’t here yet, so that was probably why, Marinette just hoped she’d get to keep her desk mate this time.

Despite the feeling of exhaustion that weighed her down, Marinette went through her routine of getting to her desk, wanting to stake her claim on the desk for the first day of college lest someone else take it for the rest of the year.

“Hey, Marinette.” Nino greeted his classmate as she worked up the strength to carry herself on her crutches.

“Oh, hey, Nino.” Marinette said, slightly out of breath.

Marinette took note of where the boy was sitting, on the front row, across from where Chloe and Sabrina usually sat. Which was unusual, considering the boy favoured sitting at the back where he was out of view of the teacher.

Nino took note of the wheelchair Marinette was using.

“An off day?” Nino questioned.

“Just a bit.” Marinette said.

“Want me to do anything?” Nino asked.

Marinette gave a few more attempts to keep herself upright with her crutches before collapsing back into her wheelchair in defeat, she just didn’t have the strength or stability to do it on her own.

“If you wouldn’t mind.” Marinette admitted.

Nino got out of his seat and helped Marinette out of her wheelchair, struggling a bit with her weight as he helped her to her seat.

“Here, let me help.” The girl in the seat next to Marinette’s offered, getting up and taking Marinette’s other side.

Together, the two got Marinette to her seat and lowered her onto it.

“Thank you.” Marinette said, relaxing.

“No problem.” The girl said as she sat in her own seat, Nino returning to his. “I’m Ayla.

“Oh, I’m Marinette.”

Marinette then went to offer Alya a macaroon, only to realise she’d left them and her bag with a wheelchair. She was saved from getting up or asking for help by said objects being placed on her desk, looking up, she saw Chloe and Sabrina.

“You really need to work on that memory of yours, Marinette.” Chloe said as she and Sabrina slid into their own seats.

Chloe then took notice of Alya in the seat next to Marinette.

“Excuse me, but that isn’t your seat, move!” Chloe ordered her.

“It’s the start of the year, there aren’t any seat assignments yet. And Marinette doesn’t seem to mind me sitting here.” Alya shot back. “And you already have your seats. So, why do you care?”

“I care because that’s not your seat.” Chloe said. “And there are other seats, so go sit in one where you’re welcome.”

“I quite like this seat, thank you very much.” Alya argued.

“Chloe, please.” Marinette said placatingly. “Nobody ever sits next to me anyway, so just let her have the seat. She’s fine.”

“Not this year.” Chloe answered. “This year, that seat’s reserved for someone very special.”

“Adrien Agreste.” Sabrina finished for her friend. “A famous teen model and Chloe’s best friend. Aside from me-us, of course.” Sabrina quickly corrected herself.

“And I should care because?” Alya asked, sounding unimpressed.

“You should care because he’s an important person who earns more than your parents probably earn, and as such, he only deserves to hang out with the best, which is us. And you sitting there gets in the way of our perfect friendship seating.”

Marinette recalled Chloe mentioning Adrien a fair few times, and seeing his pictures in various advertisements, but despite the both of them supposedly being friends with Chloe, they had never met. Something always coming up whenever Chloe intended to introduce them to each other.

“You know what, fine.” Alya said, sitting up. “I wouldn’t want to put up with being near you all year either.”

Alya then went over to sit next to Nino instead.

Marinette sighed at the loss of another desk mate.

“Chloe, you need to stop doing this, I’m allowed to have other friends.” She told the blond.

“I’m not denying you are.” Chloe defended herself. “And if it were last year, I wouldn’t have cared if she sat there as long as she wasn’t a bother. But Adrien’s attending college this year, and I want him to sit there.”

“Still, you could have asked in a nicer way.” Marinette said.

“I’m pretty sure I asked kindly enough. Didn’t I, Sabrina?” Chloe turned to her friend.

“Yes, you did, Chloe.” Sabrina was quick to agree. “You said ‘excuse me’ and explained the situation clearly.”

“See?” Chloe turned to Marinette. “It’s not my fault she got all insulted over a simple request to move.”

Marinette fixed Sabrina with a look that said, ‘you’re not helping’. Sabrina elected to ignore her.

After that Chloe was quick to open Marinette’s box of macaroons and help herself to one, reminding Marinette of why she had them. She offered one to Sabrina, who declined, before passing the box back to Ivan with the message to pass it around the classroom.

The first class of the year then begun with the students, and even the teacher at Marinette’s offering, munching on macaroons.

* * *

 

A boy ran through the streets of Paris, his bag banging at his side, desperately trying to reach his destination before he was found out and forced to return, he cut through the part in hopes of reaching it in time. But just as he made it to the steps of the college, he was stopped by the screeching of wheels and a voice calling out to him.

“Adrien!” Called Natalie, his dad’s assistant. “Please reconsider. You know what your father wants.”

“This is what I want to do.” Adrien did his best to assert, turning away and heading back towards the college.

At this point, in another timeline, an old man would have fallen for Adrien to help up and prove his worth, but since said old man was currently in the hospital, no such event happened.

“Adrien, please don’t go against your father, this is not what he wants.”

Adrien turned around again to face Natalie.

“And what about what I want? All I want to do is go to school like any ordinary kid. Is that really so much to ask?” He said, slightly angry.

“Please come home before you get in trouble. You wouldn’t want to disappoint your father, would you?” Natalie played a dirty move.

Adrien sighed, Natalie knew that he didn’t like to get into trouble and disappoint his father. He gave the college one last longing look before heading back down the steps, towards the car.

“I’m beginning to wonder if it might be worth it.” Adrien muttered to himself.

From their place on a park bench, someone watched as the argument between Adrien and Natalie unfolded before Adrien was ultimately taken back home against what he wanted, they regarded Adrien with a thoughtful look as they caressed the small box in their pocket that held a ring inside before grinning wickedly.

* * *

 

Chloe moaned as morning classes finished with no Adrien in sight.

“I’m sure something just came up.” Sabrina comforted her friend. “You know Adrien wanted to come.”

“I know.” Chloe said. “This always happens. But by what he’d said, it sounded like he was finally coming this year. His dad must have not let him come, again.”

“Why wouldn’t his dad let him come? The college doesn’t have a bad reputation, and you said he lives close.” Marinette inquired.

“Adrien’s very high profile.” Chloe boasted proudly. “He is my friend after all, and only the best, such as myself, get to be his friends. Mostly because Mr Agreste is a ‘bit’ protective and controlling of my poor Adrien’s life.”

“Wow, poor guy.” Marinette said in sympathy.

With another helping hand from Nino, he and Sabrina got Marinette back down to her wheelchair, Marinette still not feeling stable enough to support her own weight.

“You know that wheelchair has a table attachment.” Chloe pointed out. “If you’re having one of your off days you shouldn’t force yourself just to get to your seat.”

“It’s the first day of the year, I wanted to claim my seat.” Marinette said.

“I could have held your seat as well.” Chloe offered.

“It would have been silly for you to claim an entire desk that you don’t even sit at, and I didn’t want you to cause a fight over it.” Marinette replied honestly.

“I wouldn’t have caused a fight over it.” Chloe defended.

“You almost did with Alya over just one seat.” Marinette deadpanned.

Chloe chose not to respond other than some grumbled insistence that she wouldn’t have started a fight.

As the students filtered out of the college for their lunchbreak, Marinette went her separate way from Chloe and Sabrina, wanting to go on another one of her ‘walks’ around town. As she rolled down the street, she spotted Alya.

“Hey.” Marinette said as she caught up with the girl. “I’m sorry about Chloe, she can be very...passionate about her views.”

“I noticed.” Alya said. “But it’s not your fault, she’s the one who forced me to move.”

“I should have gotten her to stop though, that Adrien guy she mentioned didn’t even come in, so it’s unfair that you had to move.” Marinette said.

“I guess I should have stood my ground more, but, as nice as you are, I don’t think I could stand being near that bottled blond. Uh, no offence.” Alya said when she realised she was insulting Marinette’s friend.

“None taken.” Marinette said with a small smile. “Honestly, Chloe can really be blind to how others feel and is self-absorbed, but she’s nowhere as bad as she used to be. But, that could be my own opinion, since she doesn’t pick on me anymore.”

“She used to pick on you?” Alya asked in concern.

“Uh, yeah.” Marinette felt a little awkward speaking about something personal with someone she hardly knew. “She used to treat me like how she treats anyone else, but after I saved her, she declared herself my best friend. It’s still kind of weird, but with my new position, I do try to make her friendlier. At least she doesn’t throw around her father’s title like she used to.”

“Wow, willing to be friends with her to try and turn her to good, you’re a modern-day hero.” Alya joked. “What you do to save her, stop her from falling off something while she was too busy doing her make-up to look where she was going?”

“Actually, I saved her from a car.” Marinette answered with a smile. “It’s how I ended up in this thing.” She tapped her knuckles against the wheelchair.

“Ouch. Sorry.” Alya winced. “I didn’t mean to bring up any bad memories.”

“It’s okay.” Marinette insisted. “I don’t really mind it anymore, the only thing that bothers me about it is how people treat me like I’m fragile just because I can’t walk.”

“Ah, I can understand.” Alya said. “My granddad’s stuck in a wheelchair as well, and he likes to shout at anyone who acts like he can’t do anything himself because of it.”

“It is frustrating.” Marinette agreed.

Frustration at others had been a common occurrence in Marinette’s therapy group, while some didn’t mind the fact that others were practically bending over backwards to help them, others found increasingly annoying when they were told to stay still and whatever they wanted would be brought to them. They felt like they were given no agency, treated like the loss of one thing completely took away their ability to do any sort of task, expressing how it made them feel less of a person. Marinette was just thankful that her parents had quickly snapped out of that behaviour when they realised Marinette could still do things like help out around the bakery, even if she couldn’t use her legs.

As the two girls walked through Paris, Alya took notice of the white butterflies that were beginning to gather around Marinette.

“Butterflies seem to really love you, huh?” Alya said.

“Oh, uh, yeah. Maybe it’s my perfume.” Marinette said as some of the butterflies took perch in her hair.

Without noticing it, the girls’ journey had taken them close to the mansion, where Marinette kept most of Nooroo’s butterflies. Marinette would regularly drop by with Nooroo to visit them, so they must have thought she was visiting today and come to meet her.

“That is adorable.” Alya laughed as the butterflies landed on Marinette. “I need to take a photo.”

Alya took out her phone and snapped a picture, Marinette shyly offering a peace sign for the photo.

“Is it alright if I post this?” Alya asked.

Marinette sighed rolled the question around in her head. “Sure.” She said with a shrug.

Marinette and Alya eventually past by the gates to the mansion and Marinette managed to send a silent message to the butterflies to return to the garden, which they reluctantly did.

“Wow, that’s beautiful.” Alya said as she looked at the garden. “I wonder who lives here.”

“No one, at the moment.” Marinette answered.

She didn’t want to mention that she was the owner of the property to her new potential friend, not wanting to turn her off by making it seem like she was boasting.

“It’s just getting renovated since it’s so old.” Marinette said, pointing at the scaffolding wrapped around the building, a few builders wandering around on it.

It had been a while since renovations on the building had started, and though they were far from over, a few of the rooms had renovations finished and things such as the elevator had been fixed.

“So, uh, want to get lunch at my parents’ bakery?” Marinette asked Alya.

“Sure.” Alya said. “Sound better than my original plan, going to the nearest McDonalds.”

“Okay. It’s back the way we came.” Marinette pointed behind them.

Alya laughed. “That’s alright. I was just stretching my legs anyway.”

The girls turned around and headed back to Marinette’s home, Marinette explaining to Alya that they didn’t have to worry about the lunchtime rush because she got privileges from being the daughter of the bakery owners.

* * *

 

Adrien sighed as he finally made it back to his overly spacious room after his home-schooling lesson with Natalie and ‘talk’ with his dad. It wasn’t fair, all he wanted to do was go to school like any other kid and make friends, but that was apparently too much to ask.

As Adrien sat down and turned on his TV in an effort to distract himself from his problems, he took notice of something on his table, a small box and a voice recorder.

Opening the box, Adrien found a black ring with a green paw-print design on top resting on a cushion inside, the ring was slightly spikey in the corners and the pads were clawed. Taking the ring out of the box, Adrien found it unnaturally could to the touch, and he saw the sudden image of something with fangs and green eyes hissing at him, causing Adrien to almost drop the ring, but it left as quickly as it had appeared.

Curious as to who left the ring here and why, Adrien picked up the voice recorder and pressed play.

“Hello, Adrien Agreste.” A voice came out of the recorder, it was smooth and almost hypnotic-sounding in a sense. “‘Who am I’, you may be asking, for now, you may merely call me a friend. I have seen the confining and controlled life you are forced to live, no independence given, but I offer you the key to your freedom, freedom to go where you want and act how you want. Inside the box I placed with this recorder there is a ring, this ring is your key, it may not seem like much, but I promise you, it holds all the power you will ever need, if you just put it on.”

Adrien turned the ring over in his fingers before sliding it onto his finger without a second thought, it sent shivers through his body as he wore it.

“Now, this key will only be a test run to show you all I can offer you, if you like the power and freedom I have gifted you, meet me along the Seine where we can discuss things one-to-one. For now, to turn the key of your freedom, simply say, ‘Claws Out’.” The message came to a stop.

Adrien looked at the ring on his finger, he swore he could feeling it thrumming, and it still felt could despite the fact his body heat should have warmed it up.

“Would this really give me freedom?” Adrien questioned himself. “How would it work? Maybe it’s a wish granting thing, or a lucky charm.”

Adrien suddenly got the feeling someone, or something, was laughing at him. But looking around, there was no one there.

“I guess there’s only one way to find out.” Adrien concluded. “Claws Out!”

Adrien didn’t even have time to gasp for air as the coldness and thrumming from the ring spread all throughout his body, bringing with it a prevailing feeling of numbness, then the feeling of needles forcing their way into his bring, forcing Adrien to his knees as he gripped his head with his eyes screwed tight and his mouth open in a silent scream. Unseen by Adrien, shadows emerged from the ring on his finger and swirled around him, growing thicker and thicker until Adrien was wrapped in them like a cocoon. Adrien tried again and again to scream in pain and fear, but the shadows invaded his mouth, silencing any attempts. He felt like he was being crushed to the point of shattering within himself, and then the shadows took those shards and began crafting something new, until Adrien stopped trying to scream, the pain and fear fading away, replaced by something else.

Not that far away, as these events unfolded, in her home above the bakery, Marinette collapsed to the floor, clutching her head as she screamed for someone who couldn’t, her new friend Alya freaking out above her as she called for Marinette’s parents.

In Adrien’s room, the cocoon of shadows surrounding Adrien cracked before falling away, and like a cocoon, something entirely new emerged.

Adrien regarded his new form with interest, feeling over his body and taking in the changes.

“So, this is what they meant.” Adrien said.

Adrien then paused when he felt something get in the way of his speech, feeling along his teeth with his tongue, he found them sharped with fangs, pressing against them a little harder, his tongue started to bleed.

“The power to be free.” Adrien contemplated.

Adrien looked towards his window, which he only just realised was open even though he didn’t recall opening, and a grin found its way onto his face. He stepped up to it until he was standing on the windowsill, looking at the street below, his hand went automatically to the metal cylinder he somehow knew was there, he held it in front of him and extended until it reached the ground.

With one final look at his room, he jumped out of the window.

* * *

 

Adrien laughed madly as he shot across rooftops, faster than he could ever imagine, not caring about who saw him or if they could see past the mask he wore and recognise him as Adrien Agreste. The person on the recorder was right, the ring did make him feel so free.

Adrien eventually had to stop for breath, the suit he wore gave him much more speed and stamina, but it seemed he still eventually wore out, it just took him longer than usual. As he took in a breath, Adrien realised that he’d stopped right in front of billboard without realising it, and from the billboard his own face looked back at him, one of his father’s ads.

Rage suddenly boiled up inside of Adrien, all of the feeling that he’d managed to keep down for so long rising to the surface, as if the ring also freed the anger and sadness from where he kept them. The billboard showed him all he’d ever be to his father, just an asset to show off his business, just another one of his models that happened to live with him, not his son that he was supposed to care about. That Adrien on the board, he was just a fake, someone created in a desperate attempt to please his father and maybe gain some affection, to fool the world into believing he was the perfect child.

“No more.” Adrien promised to himself, fist clenching.

No, he wouldn’t be that person anymore, he wouldn’t! What was the use in being him if it didn’t get him any affection from his father, and false affection from those attracted to him? In fact, the only time his father even looked his way was when he misbehaved. So, why not go with the method that got him results instead? He didn’t need the boy on the billboard anymore.

“I hate you.” Adrien hissed, looking at the ‘perfect’ image of himself that everyone loved.

He didn’t need that image anymore, he was free now, and that image was just more chains on his life, he would never go back to it.

“I hate you.” Adrien said louder.

He was free, and now that he knew what freedom was like, he was never going back, no matter the cost.

“I hate you!”

Black energy formed around his fist.

“Cataclysm!”

He punched the billboard and it disintegrated before his eyes. He then dropped to his knees and panted as if he’d run a marathon, looking at the hand that just held the destructive energy.

“This is my power.” Adrien said, unsure how to feel.

But then something within him forced that feeling towards happiness and glee.

“Nothing’s going to be able to hold me back.” He grinned. “I wonder what else I can destroy.

But instead of summoning Cataclysm again, his ring gave a beep and one of the pads on the paw design flashed before disappearing.

“What’s this?” Adrien asked.

He wanted desperately to hunt down more advertisements with his false image on and destroy them, but the ring wasn’t allowing him anymore.

Then Adrien remembered, the person who gave him the ring in the first place, they’d have answers. And they said to find them by the Seine.

Adrien quickly arrived by the Seine, but then he was faced with the problem that he didn’t know where by the Seine he was supposed to go.

“Enjoying yourself.” A voice suddenly said.

Adrien swung around, ready to attack, finding someone standing there with a long coat and hat obscuring their identity.

“You certainly seem like you have been.” The stranger said.

Adrien recognised the voice. “You’re the person from the recording, the one who gave me my ring.” He said.

“That’s right.” The stranger said. “I realise you must be confused. But I wanted to give you a taste of what I have to offer before I explained everything. So, how was your taste?”

“It’s amazing. This suit, this ring, it makes me feel like I could do anything, like I don’t have to be afraid. I…you’re not going to take it back, are you?” Adrien covered the ring with his other hand.

“That depends.” The stranger said with a chuckle.

“On what?” Adrien asked suspiciously.

“On whether you’re willing to cause destruction and fight in order to draw out some people into the open and then take from them.” The stranger said.

“What?” Adrien asked, a small niggling telling him he should be more shocked than he was acting.

“I’ll explain.” The stranger offered. “What you are wearing now is called a Miraculous, which is one of seven. I am the newly instated Guardian of the Miraculous, the one who takes care of them when they are not in use and hands them out to those I deem worthy. However, three of the Miraculous are missing from my care, something left over from the previous Guardian, and I would very much like them back where they belong.”

“So why have you given me one?” Adrien asked.

“The Miraculous are most likely in the hands of others, but they could possibly be drawn out of hiding by the appearance of a villain terrorising Paris. I want you to draw them out and then take their Miraculouses, bringing them back to me.” The stranger told him.

“And why would I do this?” Adrien questioned, the prospect of causing destruction sounding oddly appealing the more and more he thought about it.

“Well, I suppose I could always find someone else to use the ring.” The stranger said, a hint of a threat in their voice.

“No!” Adrien exclaimed, clutching at the hand wearing the ring.

“Then all you need to do is get me back the other Miraculouses and it’s yours to use however else you want, and you keep your freedom.”

The stranger held out their hand to Adrien.

“Do we have a deal?” They asked.

Adrien looked at the ring, uncertainty flashing across his face, he knew on a moral level that agreeing to it, destroying things at all, was wrong, but then that uncertainty fell away as he remembered how good it felt to wear the ring, what it was giving him, and he suddenly found it worth it.

“Deal.” He grinned evilly, shaking the stranger’s hand.

“You’ve made a wise choice, Adrien.” The stranger said.

Adrien shook his head.

“Not Adrien” He said. “Catastrophe.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, there you go, Adrien is now evil.


	6. Sharpened Claws

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette and Adrien meet, and Adrien finally has enough of Chloe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for being away for so long, but my motivation to write Miraculous Ladybug stories has really been down, and even after this chapter I don’t know when the next will be. Hopefully, once season two stops being pushed back and finally gets here, my motivation will come back in full and I’ll be able to continue writing new chapters more consistently.

“Are you sure you want to go back to college today? You had a really bad fit yesterday.” Alya asked Marinette in concern as they journeyed to college together.

Marinette grimaced as she remembered the pain she suddenly felt during yesterday’s lunch, like something was invading her brain, her parents had quickly taken her to the doctor who declared nothing wrong with her, though they were still waiting for some tests to return, Nooroo had only told her to be prepared when she managed to be alone with him long enough to ask.

“I’m fine now.” Marinette insisted.

“Are you sure, I don’t want another freak-out like yesterday while we’re in the middle of class.” Alya asked.

“I’m sure, I’m completely fine.” Marinette insisted.

Marinette was even in her usual wheelchair, not that Alya knew the meaning behind that. Marinette was just glad that Chloe hadn’t been there to witness her collapse in pain, otherwise the blond might have forced her to stay at home and tied her down to ensure that she did (she had been threatened with such an action multiple times whenever she tried to go to college when sick).

“Fine, but if you start looking too peaky, I’m pushing you home no matter how much you protest.” Alya relented.

“Okay.” Marinette agreed.

The two girls arrived at the college and went into the courtyard where most of the student were gathered before class began.

“Mari!” Chloe spotted the girl and called her over. “Where were you yesterday afternoon?” She then spotted Alya with Marinette. “And why is _she_ with you?”

“Alya’s my new friend.” Marinette answered firmly.

“What? But…” Chloe began.

“I’m allowed other friends Chloe.” Marinette said with the same firmness.

Chloe gave an unhappy pout but backed down.

“Fine.” She relented. “But that doesn’t mean that _we’re_ friends.” She said to Alya, pointing her finger.

“Fine with me.” Alya responded, crossing her arms.

She still couldn’t understand how a girl like Marinette put up with Chloe enough to be her friend.

“You still haven’t told me what happened to you yesterday.” Chloe then pointed out.

Marinette winced, she hoped she’d managed to dodge that question though the commotion Chloe had put up about her getting another friend. Thankfully, she’d gotten Alya to promise not to tell when they had met up for college.

“Uh, I just wasn’t feeling that well, that’s all.” Marinette lied. “But I’m feeling better now.”

Chloe regarded Marinette suspiciously, trying to evaluate whether she was lying or not.

Marinette was saved from further interrogation by someone calling Chloe’s name.

* * *

 

Adrien walked confidently through the college doors, happy at finally doing something he wanted to do, and this time he wasn’t going to let anyone hold him back.

“Adrien!” A painfully familiar voice called to him.

Adrien sighed in frustration, he’d been so close again, but today was going to be different than yesterday.

“Please don’t anger your father anymore.” Natalie pleaded. “You’re already grounded.”

Ah, yes. Adrien’s little taste of freedom around Paris had been noticed by his father, not the turning into a cat-man and destroying one of his ‘precious’ advertisements, but the fact that Adrien had snuck out and not reappeared until late with no explanation for where he’d been. And for disobeying the rules and refusing to tell where he’d been, Adrien was grounded.

“I already don’t have any freedom.” Adrien replied angrily. “What’s there left to take? I’m going to do what I want.”

With that, Adrien turned around and walked into the college before Natalie could try to stop him. The assistant sighed in defeat as Adrien’s bodyguard and driver turned to her questioningly. She didn’t like that Adrien had just spoke to her in such a manor, even when he was frustrated he was polite, but she knew that he was also just a teenager and that everyone had their tipping point.

‘Maybe a day as a normal boy will help him.’ Natalie reasoned.

“I’ll deal with it.” Natalie told the bodyguard. “Let’s go.”

Adrien passed through the doors with a grin on his face, looking at all of the other students around him, all about the same age and potential friends. His eyes scanned the crowed and managed to pick out a familiar face.

“Hey, Chloe.” He said as he walked over to the girl.

Honesty, Adrien would have rather not announced his presence to the, admittedly rather loud, girl, but she was the only familiar face around and his first friend, so it was best to start with her.

“Adrien! You made it!” Chloe cried happily as she ran over and latched onto him in the way that Adrien usually had tolerated.

But Adrien didn’t have to tolerate things anymore.

“Yeah, I managed to avoid Natalie and the Gorilla.” Adrien said as he pried Chloe’s arms off of him gently.

Chloe pouted at Adrien rejecting her hug.

They were then interrupted by people realising exactly who Adrien was and coming over to look at him or ask for autographs. The area around Adrien was quickly becoming crowded, everyone wanting to see and interact with the teen model.

“It’s getting crowded here, let’s head to class.” Marinette said to Alya.

Marinette quickly navigated her wheelchair around the growing crowd of students that surrounded Adrien, and by extension Chloe, who refused to leave his side. She wheeled into the lift that took her to the next floor while Alya took the stairs, the two girls meeting up as they entered the classroom.

Marinette looked up at her seat, she wasn’t having one of her ‘off days’, but the distance up to her seat seemed as if it might be too far to manage on her own today, the ache from the previous day’s empathetic episode still remained deep down in her bones, as well as Nooroo’s ominous warning weighing on her heart.

‘Maybe I could follow Chloe’s advice, just for today.’ Marinette contemplated to herself.

“What’s wrong, you’re just staring at your seat?” Alya asked.

“Huh?” Marinette looked at her. “Oh, nothing.” She waved off. “Just wondering if I’d be able to make it to my seat.”

Alya looked at her suspiciously.

“I’m fine.” Marinette insisted before she could say anything.

“You’re ‘fine’ about what?” Came Chloe’s voice.

Marinette winced and turned her head to see the blond standing in the doorway alongside Adrien, who seemed to have managed to shake off the crowd of students.

“Nothing.” Marinette was quick to insist.

“If it’s ‘nothing’, then why did you have to insist that you were fine?” Chloe interrogated.

“Alya was just concerned because I wasn’t going to my seat right away.” Marinette said.

“Think you can make it?” Chloe asked, her features softening in understanding.

Marinette shrugged, looking up at her seat.

“I could carry you to your seat.” Adrien offered, his good nature shining through.

Despite Adrien’s good intentions, everyone in the room winced at his poor choice of words and judgement.

“I’m fine, thank you.” Marinette declined calmly.

“It wouldn’t be any trouble, you look light enough to carry.” Adrien insisted.

Marinette frowned. “I said, I’m fine I don’t need to be carried.” She said sternly.

Adrien frowned slightly himself. “I’m just trying to help.” He said.

“Well, I don’t need your help.” Marinette said. “I can do things on my own.”

“You can’t get to your seat by yourself.” Adrien shot back.

Nino mimed a digging motion as he looked at Adrien in sympathy.

“I can’t, can I?” Marinette asked challengingly.

Marinette grabbed her crutches and then wacked Adrien’s legs with one of them to get him to move out of her way, she then pushed herself to her feet, supporting her weight with her arms using the crutches and used them to pull herself up the steps to her seat, all by herself, slumping into her seat victoriously. She then looked down at Adrien in triumph.

“Don’t ever tell me that I can’t do something.” She told him.

Adrien nodded as he looked up at Marinette, impressed. He hadn’t realised that the girl could do such a thing on her own, he thought that disabled people were meant to be completely confined to their wheelchairs, it made him feel a bit bad for assuming.

“A word of advice, Adrikins.” Chloe said to him quietly. “Never assume what a disabled person can and can’t do and only offer when asked, especially with Marinette.”

Adrien nodded in understanding, then he frowned.

“Chloe, don’t call me that anymore.” He said.

“What, Adrikins? But I’ve always called you that.” Chloe was confused.

“And I don’t like it.” Adrien answered.

“You never had a problem with it before.” Chloe said.

“I did, but I’m not putting up with it anymore.” Adrien said seriously. “So, don’t call me it.”

“Fine, if you don’t like it.” Chloe relented, slightly hurt.

Chloe directed Adrien to his seat next to Marinette before sitting in her own in front of him, leaving Adrien to feel incredibly awkward as he sat next to the girl he had accidently insulted, who was quite obvious in ignoring him.

* * *

 

Class started and then passed without incident. Afterward, Marinette headed home for her lunch while Adrien stayed at the college, partially to avoid going home and not being able to return to the college and partially to mingle with the other students and make new friends, something that proved to be harder than he expected thanks to a certain blond.

“Don’t try and talk to them, Adrien, they’re not worth your time and would just want to be your friend because you’re famous.” Chloe said as she dragged Adrien away from the group of students he had just gathered up the courage to try and talk to before being interrupted by his friend.

“Chloe.” Adrien complained. “I need to make other friends.”

“You’re new to this school, Adrien, so you don’t know how it works. People are vicious, if you aren’t careful, you’ll end up getting used. You need to stay with me to stop that from happening.” Chloe said.

“I’m pretty sure you’re one to worry about.” Adrien muttered under his breath.

Thankfully, Chloe didn’t hear him.

The three of them, Sabrina was also there but had been keeping quiet the entire time, continued to walk around, but every time Adrien thought he saw a potential friend, Chloe found something wrong with them or chased them off if they were the ones to approach.

“She has a bad reputation, she’d only drag you into bad behaviour.”

“Eww, no. Have you seen his fashion sense? Your dad would have a fit if you made friends. And don’t get close or you’ll smell how much he barely bathes.”

“Ha, you think you could be friends with _my_ Adrien? Don’t think Adrien would lower himself in such a way.”

With each rejection Chloe made for him, Adrien grew progressively angrier at his childhood friend, he hadn’t realised how much she spoke for him before and he was not happy about it. Eventually, it got to a point where the students would actively avoid the three of them, not wanting to be on the receiving end of Chloe’s sharp tongue.

“You can’t keep turning everyone away, Chloe.” Adrien finally burst out angrily.

“I won’t.” Chloe promised. “I just haven’t seen the right people for you to make friends with yet. Besides, you have me, Sabrina and Marinette to be your friends.”

“I’m pretty sure Marinette hates me.” Adrien pointed out.

“She’ll get over it, Mari doesn’t hold grudges for long and it was a simple misunderstanding.” Chloe waved off.

It was too bad that there was no one around to point out that Chloe was the ultimate example of Marinette’s inability to hold a grudge.

“Anyway, we can keep going after we’ve had lunch.” Chloe said. “In fact, we’ll go to Marinette’s for it, her parents own the best bakery in Paris, she’ll forgive you quicker if she gets to know you. We’ll go after I’ve gone to the ladies. Stay here.”

Chloe walked off in the direction of the toilets, Sabrina following dutifully behind.

Adrien saw his chance and walked off, eager to interact with others without Chloe breathing down his neck. He saw a boy in a red cap sitting at a table and recognised him from his class and decided that it was best to start with the familiar.

“Hi.” He said as he approached.

Nino looked up at Adrien and was quick to recognise him.

“Oh, you’re Chloe’s friend.” Nino said, looking down at his tablet again.

“Well, yeah.” Adrien said uncomfortably. “I’m Adrien. What’s your name?”

“Nino.” The boy answered shortly.

Adrien frowned, he thought that making friends would be easier than this, especially considering who he was.

“Have I done something wrong?” He asked.

“You, personally, no.” Nino answered, looking up. “But you’re friends with Chloe, and her attitude today screams stay away.”

“Is she really that bad?” Adrien asked.

“You kidding, didn’t you see how she treated everyone who dared to get near today?” Nino raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

“She’s just trying to find me the right friends.” Adrien said, trying to be defensive, but his heart wasn’t in it, he already knew the truth.

“Trust me, you’re not going to find any friends with Chloe in charge. I still can’t understand how Marinette remains friends with her.” Nino said.

“I guess she can be controlling.” Adrien admitted.

“That’s an understatement. If the slightest thing didn’t go her way, she used to throw her father’s title around to get what she wanted, she’s not as bad as she was now thanks to Marinette mellowing her out, but she seems to have reverted back on old behaviour today.” Nino said.

Adrien sighed. “I know.” He admitted. “But Chloe’s the only friend I have.”

Nino’s eyes softened, understanding the blond’s problem.

“Well, I guess she doesn’t have to be your only friend anymore.” He said, sticking out his hand.

“Really?” Adrien asked.

“Sure, dude, I shouldn’t hold Chloe against you. I’ll show you the real way to make friends.” Nino offered.

“I’d like that.” Adrien smiled genially.

Before Adrien could accept his hand, he was interrupted by Chloe grabbing onto him, having appeared out of seemingly nowhere.

“Adrien, I told you to wait.” She pouted.

Chloe then looked at Nino.

“Wait, are you trying to make friends without me?” Chloe asked.

“Well, you wouldn’t let me.” Adrien told her, getting fed up with her attitude. “And it turns out it’s easier when you’re not insulting everyone.”

Chloe looked over Nino with a wrinkled face.

“I don’t know Adrien, he doesn’t-”

“Alright, just stop!” Adrien burst out, interrupting Chloe.

The ring on Adrien’s finger pulsed.

“I’ve had enough, Chloe, I can’t put up with your attitude anymore!” He continued, not feeling the need to calm down like he usually would.

“Adrien…” Chloe said weakly, reaching out for him.

“No!” Adrien stepped away from her angrily.

“Ever since I’ve got here you’ve been nothing but cruel and controlling, and I’m not going to stand for it. I’ve put up with you for far too long, but now I have a chance to be free and I’m not letting you take that away from me by controlling who I can and cannot be friends with.”

“Adrien, what are you saying?” Chloe asked, tears in her eyes.

Adrien had never shouted at her before and it hurt and confused her.

“I’m saying that we’re done, we are not friends anymore, I won’t be friends with someone like you!”

“But Adrien…why?” Chloe cried.

“‘Why’ what? Why don’t I want to be friends? How about the fact that I come here, expecting to make friends, only for you to insult and bully everyone we come across, taking away my chances at making new friends. All so you can keep me to yourself, don’t think I don’t know that’s what you’ve been doing. I’ve always known you weren’t the best, but I hadn’t realised just how much of a monster you were until you showed your full colours today, insulting everyone, controlling who I could even talk to like I’m some possession, throwing around your father’s title, walking around like you own the place. Why would I ever want to remain friends with you now that I know exactly who you are? A pathetic monster!” Adrien breather heavily as he finished his tirade.

Chloe stared at Adrien in shock for a moment before tearing up and then openly sobbing, turning and running out of the college, everyone staring after her.

Sabrina was equally stunned and stood there, watching Chloe break down and run off before her thoughts caught up with her and she ran after the blond.

“Chloe, wait!” She called after her.

Everyone stared at the doors that Chloe had just ran though, sobbing. All of them knew that Chloe deserved to be taken down a peg or two, most of them having suffered from Chloe in some form or another, and none of them could fault what Adrien had said, but the scene had made them all uncomfortable, as if it had been too brutal a take down, even for someone such as Chloe.

“Dude.” Nino finally said. “Are you okay?”

Nino reached out hesitantly, but didn’t touch Adrien’s shoulder.

Adrien gave a frustrated huff.

“Yeah.” He said. “But I need some time alone.”

Adrien turned and ran out of the front doors as well, running through the streets until he came across a secluded area where he stopped to breath. He slumped to the floor, not caring about dirtying his clothes as his mind battled with itself.

‘You shouldn’t have made Chloe cry, she’s your best friend.’ The part of him that had always been there said.

 _‘She deserved it. The only reason she’s your friend is because she wouldn’t let anyone else near, but now you don’t need her anymore, you don’t have to put up with how awful she is to everyone.’_ Said another part of him, the part of him that he usually kept buried but had been getting louder lately.

“She deserved it for all that she’s done, maybe even more.” Adrien agreed with the second thought, his ring pulsing deeply.

Adrien look at the ring on his finger, remembering the freedom that he now had with just a simple phrase, as well as the price that came with it.

“Well.” He said to himself. “I guess it’s time to start upholding my end of the deal.”

Adrien stood and held up his clenched fist.

“Claws out!”

Black lightning washed over Adrien, replacing his form with black.

With a wicked grin, Catastrophe ran off to make his grand introduction to the world.


	7. Rising Wings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloe has a breakdown and Catastrophe finally makes himself known

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We live! The Miraculous Ladybug fandom lives! Season 2 is soon and hopefully it won’t get pushed back any more. And hopefully that also means I’ll get my motivation back to write this story, as well as Rise of Paonne and Renard Rouge, regularly again.

Marinette sat on her bed, one hand supporting her weight while the other rested comfortingly on the head of the blond girl who was sobbing into her lap.

“A-a-and h-he called m-me and mon-ster.” Chloe sobbed into Marinette’s lap.

Marinette kept quiet as Chloe sobbed out her story of what had happened to get her into such a state.

Chloe claimed that Adrien had snapped at her out of nowhere, she had just been trying to make sure Adrien found the right friends but then he suddenly blamed her for not being able to find any and started insulting her, making the blond feel deeply betrayed that her friend would turn on her in such a way.

But Marinette knew enough about Chloe by now to read between the lines, to see what the blond left out of her story. Chloe ‘making sure Adrien found the right friends’ no doubt meant she has scared off anyone who dared to try, Marinette had learned from experience that Chloe tended to have high standards for friends and was overly protective of the friends she had, it had taken a while for Marinette to drill into Chloe’s head that she didn’t need the blond dictating her own friends but Chloe had eventually begrudgingly agreed that Marinette could make her own choices. From the sounds of it, Chloe didn’t think Adrien was capable of making his own choice in friends as Marinette was and so kept everyone away, and since it was Chloe, the blond wasn’t likely to have been nice in controlling who Adrien could be friends with, and Adrien no doubt snapped from Chloe’s actions, leading to the situation now.

“D-do y-you think I’m a m-monster.” Chloe sobbed out, her red eyes looking up at Marinette hopefully.

Marinette sighed and bit her lip, finding herself at an impasse. Her kind and caring nature demanded that she comfort Chloe, who was genially distraught over the verbal beating she received from one of her oldest friends, but another side of her told her that some tough love was in order, with Chloe so vulnerable she might finally be able to get through to the blond about how her behaviour affected others, and there was no Sabrina to contradict her and tell Chloe she’d done nothing wrong either.

Marinette looked over to the other side of her room, where Nooroo hid among her scraps of fabric, and tried to ask her Kwami for advice, Nooroo looked out from the fabric but his eyes told her that she would have to decide for herself.

“Well,” Marinette said, trying to be careful in how she worded things. “I don’t think you’re a monster.”

Chloe brightened slightly at the affirmation.

“But, you’re not exactly that nice of a person either.” Marinette winced, but there was no other way she could think to word it without it going over Chloe’s head.

Chloe quickly dropped into looking even more broken. “What?” She asked.

Marinette winced again but soldiered on.

“I know you Chloe, and I don’t think Adrien’s blow up at you was completely out of nowhere, was it?” She said.

Chloe looked away.

“You insulted people, didn’t you?” Marinette continued.

“They didn’t seem like they’d be good friends for Adrien, so I turned them away.” Chloe justified herself quietly.

“And by ‘turned them away’, you insulted them, didn’t you?” Marinette repeated. “I know you did, because you tried to do the same when people wanted to be my friend, but I wouldn’t let you because I can make my own friends. Just as Adrien should make his own friends too.”

“But this is different, Adrien is much more famous, there are people out there who will just use him, I was only trying to protect him.” Chloe argued.

“Chloe, there’s a difference between protecting your friends, and hurting others, and what you were doing was hurting others.” Marinette said.

“I only told them to back off, maybe a bit of name calling to convince them, but they’ll get over it.” Chloe justified.

“It isn’t just ‘a bit of name calling’ or harsh words, Chloe.” Marinette said sternly. “It can end up being very harmful. You know this pain you’re feeling right now, from Adrien insulting you and calling you a monster?”

Chloe nodded hesitantly.

“This is the same sort of pain you cause others, the humiliation, the sadness, the sense of injustice. Each time you call someone names, put them down, silence them, think their misery is funny, you are causing them the same pain you feel. And that’s why Adrien turned on you.”

Chloe burst into a fresh round of tears at Marinette’s words, Marinette patted her on the back and allowed her to continue crying on her knee but didn’t offer any reassuring words.

“I-I-I didn’t realise.” Chloe claimed as she sobbed.

“I don’t think that’s true.” Marinette said. “Otherwise why would you intentionally insult someone other than to make them feel bad. You can’t lie to me, Chloe, I was your favourite victim up until I saved your life.”

Chloe’s eyes widened as she realised that she made Marinette feel how she currently felt for the longest time.

“I didn’t know it felt this bad.” Chloe continued to claim. “I thought people would get over it.”

“Maybe if it was just once or twice, but continuously doing it, and doing it to everyone, that builds up, it keeps the hurt from going away and will always stick with someone, and when someone’s bully is the mayor’s daughter who uses her father’s power to do what she wants, there’s very little chance of that bully having to repent for her actions.” Marinette said.

“But then why, why are we friends now?” Chloe asked.

Marinette shrugged. “Desperation, maybe.” She admitted sadly. “I read once about a girl who had no friends, so when her bully started acting like her friend she decided to forget what her bully had done to her in favour of having a friend. That sort of sounds just like our situation, doesn’t it?”

Chloe felt ashamed, because it did, she remembered that one of the things she used to tease Marinette about was her lack of friends. It made something heavy settle in her chest, she didn’t like that Marinette had to befriend her bully just to have friends, even if that bully was her.

“But, that girl’s story gets sadder, because her bully quickly went back to being her bully, while you haven’t. And that’s the other reason I became your friend after everything you did to me, because I saw that you could change, you didn’t revert back to your old behaviour towards me, you genuinely changed.”

“Oh.” Chloe said. “I’m…sorry, for what I’ve done.”

The weight in Chloe’s chest felt slightly lighter after saying that.

“It’s not me you need to apologise to, you wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t forgiven you, it’s everyone else you need to apologise to.” Marinette told her.

“I guess…” Chloe looked away.

Marinette smiled at her. “If you want to move forward, if you want to prove Adrien wrong, you have to change for everyone like you changed for me.”

“But…I don’t know where to start.” Chloe cried.

Marinette frowned and looked around her room as if it would suddenly provide the answer, and her eyes landed on her desk draw full of her sewing supplies, still open from when Chloe barged into her room crying her eyes out. Stretching out her arm, Marinette just managed to reach into her draw and rummage around, hissing as she pricked her fingers on pins until she felt what she was looking for and grabbed it, her motions shifting Chloe’s head on her lap, causing the blond to look in confusion as to what her friend was doing. Marinette straightened herself and opened her had to reveal what she had grabbed.

“Do you know what this is?” Marinette asked.

“A ribbon?” Chloe said in confusion, looking at the thin ribbon in Marinette’s hand.

“It’s a promise.” Marinette corrected.

Marinette took the arm Chloe had on her lap and tied the ribbon around her wrist.

“A promise that you will do better, that’s you’ll keep trying to be a better person, that you can change.” Marinette held Chloe’s hand firmly in her own. “That you’re not a monster.”

Chloe took back her hand to admire the ribbon now tied around her wrist, there was nothing special about it, no pattern or stitching, just a plain red ribbon, and yet Chloe found that it held more worth than anything, it was a symbol, a symbol that she would become a better person, a symbol of Marinette’s trust in her.

Chloe looked up at Marinette and nodded, determination in her eyes, still red from her crying.

The two girls were then distracted by noise from Marinette computer, which was on and tuned into the news while Marinette had been working.

“Breaking news.” Said the newscaster. “A masked man has appeared on top of the Bourgeois hotel and is believed to be armed dangerous.”

Chloe lunged for Marinette’s computer and turned up the volume, staring at the screen in horror, while Marinette lifted herself onto her computer chair and pulled herself over to also view the screen.

“Multiple guests and employees have come out of the building with injuries.” The camera swung to show off one of the victims, holding his arm with claw marks on his face and arms. “It is yet unknown what the mask man wants.” The newscaster continued. “But with people still held hostage inside of the building, including the mayor himself, the police are hesitant to enter.

“Up there!” Somebody out of sight of the camera yelled.

The camera swung up to the roof of the hotel and zoomed in until a person dressed in black was apparent, though it was hard to tell because they were so high up the person seemed to be wearing a long coat, the had something pointed either side of blond hair and something long trailed behind them like a tail. But despite their distance, their voice rang out loud and clear.

“Not one step closer, officers.” The voice was male. “Or you’ll be looking for a new mayor.”

The man reached behind him and pulled something up, dangling it over the edge of the building, it was mayor Bourgeois.

“Daddy!” Chloe cried out.

Chloe jumped to her feet and ran across the room, practically diving through the door.

“Chloe, wait!” Marinette called after her, but she was already gone.

Marinette turned back to her computer.

“If I see anyone other than those who I am looking for, he gets an express ticket to ground level.” The man threatened, having seemingly no trouble holding the hefty mayor in the air with one hand. “And you know who you are. If you don’t show up and hand over your Miraculouses, I’ll reduce this hotel to rubble with everyone still inside, and the same will happen to every building in Paris until you do. And as proof of my power…”

The man threw the mayor back into the roof and held out his arm, something shiny extending from it, he then slashed at the roof in front of him and people cried out in horror as the section of the roof fell away and crashed towards the ground, whatever he had was able to slice through brick with no issue.

“That is only a fraction of my power, so do hurry before I grow impatient.”

The man then disappeared from the roof.

The camera focused back on the newscaster. “As you’ve seen, this man is very dangerous…” Marinette stopped listening.

“Oh, god, what’s happening?” Marinette questioned.

“It’s the corrupted Miraculous, he has it.” Nooroo told her, flying over.

“You mean, he’s the one whose pain I felt?”

Nooroo nodded.

“What do I do then?”

“Don’t forget you have a Miraculous of your own.” Nooroo pointed at Marinette’s broach. “It’s time to fight back.

Marinette breathed in deeply “Okay. I can do this.” She told herself. “I just need to choose a Champion, right?”

“Right. Just say, Wings Rise.” Nooroo said.

Marinette took a calming breath. “Wings Rise!” She called.

Nooroo was suddenly sucked into Marinette’s broach and she cried out in surprise as a swarm of butterflies flew in through her window and landed all over her and the chair she sat on, causing a tingling sensation to wash over her. Eventually, the butterflies flew away to flutter around her room, leaving Marinette to take in her new form.

Marinette wore a high-necked purple top that also covered her fingers, a butterfly in a lighter purple was emblazoned on her chest, the upper tips of the wings going over her shoulders and the lower tips down into what she realised were long coattails that draped over her seat, and on the back of each hand were butterflies in the same lighter shade of purple, her legs were covered in more purple material that led seamlessly into high-heeled footwear, butterfly wings on the back of each ankle. Her hair was down and covered by a purple transparent hood, which was attached to a cape that covered her shoulders and was split somewhere on the back and draped either side of her into points, the now fully coloured broach pinned the cloak together. Looking into a nearby mirror, Marinette saw that she wore a purple mask, the top disappeared under her fringe and it went down either side of her nose to cover her cheeks, lines were drawn over the mask to form a symbol that looked similar to a butterfly. And in Marinette’s hand, she found she held a cane of some kind.

And Marinette wasn’t the only thing the Miraculous had changed, looking at her seat Marinette found that it had been changed from a computer chair to what only could be described as a throne, the back of it carved to look like butterfly wings.

“I hope this is temporary.” Marinette commented as she ran a gloved hand over her throne. “This is so strange.” She then shook her head. “Alright, finding a Champion. I need to feel the emotions of Paris, right?”

Marinette breathed deeply and closed her eyes, concentrating, she then gasped as she felt thousands of presences, like lights, and searched for those which shined the brightest.

* * *

 

Chloe ran to her father’s hotel, her home, in what had to be record time, not giving any mind as to how her run made her sweaty or ruined her hair, but before she could make it any further she was stopped by the police line.

“You can’t go any further, ma’am.” A police officer said.

“But my dad’s in there.” Chloe protested.

“It’s too dangerous for you to go in.” The officer remained firm.

“Chloe!”

Chloe turned to see Sabrina running over to her.

“I’m glad you’re alright. I tried to find you in the hotel after you ran off, but then that cat man attacked. I’m glad you weren’t inside.” Sabrina said.

“Cat man?” Chloe questioned.

Sabrina nodded. “He looked like he was dressing up as a cat anyway, with the ears and tail.” She said.

“Great, so my dad’s being held hostage by a crazy cat man.” Chloe said, her already fragile state leaving her close to breaking.

It seemed as if the police were making plans to sneak into the hotel to rescue the hostages, but before they could move out, the cat man appeared on top of the roof again.

“Ah, ah, ah.” The cat man warned, dangling the mayor over the building again with just one hand. “Naughty police. Do you think you could sneak past me? Remember, if I catch one whiff of you inside the building, the fat man falls.”

“Daddy!” Chloe cried out again.

The cat man cut off more of the roof, sending brick to the ground and causing people to scream and move back to avoid being hit.

Chloe desperately wanted to do something, to help her father. But what could she do?

* * *

 

Marinette opened her eyes, she had found a light that had suddenly shone brighter, she laughed when she realised who it was.

“Well, Chloe, now’s the chance to truly prove yourself.” She said.

Marinette held out her hand and one of the butterflies fluttering around her came to rest on her finger, bringing the butterfly close, she gently pressed her lips to the creature’s body, her lips then glowed a soft purple and the light transferred over into the butterfly from where her lips touched, until the butterfly glowed a soft purple.

“Go my…Tiānshǐ, give her the strength she needs.” Marinette said.

The butterfly took off from her hand and flew out her window, towards the Bourgeois hotel.

As Marinette watched it fly, she held a hand to her chest and shivered, Chloe’s light had not been the only thing she felt, she had also felt the soul of the corrupted Cat Miraculous user, it had been so cold and angry, it felt like an infection. A few of her butterflies landed on her to comfort her as Marinette vowed to set things right and remove that infection.

* * *

 

Chloe continued to look up at the roof of her hotel, tears in her eyes as she watched her father dangle precariously off the edge, the cat man had tied him up there with only a rope to keep him from falling as a warning to the police, and it terrified her. Chloe was so lost in her desperation that she didn’t notice the purple butterfly flying towards her and landing on her promise, the insect then seemed to be absorbed into the ribbon and turn it purple. A glowing, butterfly-shaped symbol appeared in front of Chloe’s face.

“Chloe?” Sabrina stepped back from her friend, eyes wide at the glowing symbol in front of her face.

But Chloe wasn’t listening.

“Do you want to do something?” A voice asked her.

“What?” Chloe asked faintly.

“Do you want to be able to save him, to save everyone?”

Chloe’s vision faded away to nothing but white, but then a faded figure appeared, floating in front of her, a lady dressed in purple with a butterfly theme. The ends of the lady’s cloak and coattails floated behind her like wings.

Chloe knew she should find this strange, but something told her that everything was going to be alright.

“Yes.” Chloe answered. “But I don’t know how.”

The lady smiled gently, filling Chloe with a warm feeling that she wouldn’t mind staying in forever.

“I can give you the power to save them.” The lady told her. “To do good.”

“You can?” Chloe asked hopefully, unable to question the lady’s words.

“Yes. But you must remember this.” The lady turned serious. “The man I am giving you the power to fight, he is just as much of a victim as your father, corrupted by this…” The lady showed Chloe an image of a black ring with a green pawprint on the top. “He is not doing these things out of his own will, it is the corruption in him, I feel it. If I give you this power, I need you to remove this ring from him, hopefully it should remove the corruption. Do you understand?”

“I…understand.” Chloe said.

It was hard to believe, but it also made sense, somehow.

“Good. And do you accept this gift, to become something better, something more, to become a hero, my Champion?”

“Yes!” Chloe loudly proclaimed.

“Then rise from the ashes and be reborn anew! Royal Phoenix!”

People gasped and backed away from Chloe as a purple light emerged from her promise and wrapped around her like a chrysalis that glowed brightly.

Catastrophe looked down at the commotion below and smirked when he saw the bright light.

“Finally.” He purred darkly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you go. Next chapter we get Catastrophe facing off against Royal Phoenix.  
> When writing Chloe for this chapter I thought about how I would redeem her canon character, and I and my friends have agreed that she needs to have everything come crashing down on her to finally understand the weight of what she’s done and be punished for it, to lose everything. So I had that in mind for when writing this chapter, it’s not to the extent that I believe canon Chloe needs, but then again canon Chloe and this Chloe are at different levels, and I’m not going to have Chloe suddenly abandon all her ways, which has happened in far too many redemption stories for bully characters, I’m building her up, hence the promise.


	8. Royal Phoenix

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Royal Phoenix VS Catastrophe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning, do not attempt to make a drinking game out of how many times this chapter says, ‘Royal Phoenix’ and ‘Catastrophe’, you will be dead.

The crowd stared in shock and awe at the glowing purple cocoon floating off of the ground, the silhouette of Chloe Bourgeois barely visible inside. Then, the silhouette reached out and a hand breached through the cocoon, it slashed though the cocoon, leaving an opening in its wake before the cocoon disappeared in a flash, releasing Chloe from inside. But the Chloe who stood there was not the same as the one who had been wrapped in light.

She wore a red one-piece strapless bodysuit, with the top of the jumpsuit pointing upwards and attached to a red feather choker with a line of fabric, the bodysuit legs were tucked inside matching heeled boots that were rimmed at the top with three lines of golden metal, one of the boots went up to her knee while the other only went half-way up, around her waist was an orange ballet skirt. She wore red gloves that ended in a point over her hands with one going all the way up her arm white the other only went to her elbow to match the boots, around one wrist was Chloe’s promise which stood out because of being purple, the other wrist had feathers coming out either side that were long enough to go halfway up her forearm, she wore a feathered mask over her eyes that was made up of different shades, three red crest feathers were attached to her ponytail, and over her head floated a tiara made of flames.

“Chloe?” Sabrina asked nervously.

Chloe turned to her friend and smiled reassuringly.

“Call me, Royal Phoenix.” She said.

She then turned to the police.

“I’ll keep him busy, you rescue the hostages.” She told them.

People then stepped back further as fire burst out of Royal Phoenix’s back, taking on the form of wings, which she then used to take to the sky before anyone could protest.

Royal Phoenix flew higher until she was level with the roof, allowing her to see the villain who held her father hostage.

He wore a long black trench coat that trailed on the floor, the lower half was split into two pieces with rips in the fabric at the bottom, the lower half was also almost entirely behind him and it only fastened slightly at the chest, the collar of the coat was popped up, the sleeves were ripped off, green pipping went over the shoulder and behind the back, and a broken chain was around his waist, hanging off belt hoops either side. He wore a black one-piece bodysuit underneath with the arms also ripped off into short sleeves, around his waist were silver belts that crossed in an X-shape, a black cat head with green eyes on the front of them. He wore black boots that went halfway up his knees, the rims pointing down at the front and up at the back and were lined with silver fur, on the toe of the boots were metal claws attached. He wore matching arm-length bracers with were rimmed with silver fur at both ends, with black gloves covering his hands and sharp metal claws that tipped each finger. The weapon the he had been using to destroy the roof was now also identifiable as cat-claw blades that were attached to a gauntlet on one arm. He wore a black cat collar with a bell on the front, another chain was attached to the collar but was broken at the front, letting the broken ends hang either side of the bell. His face was covered by a black mask, the eyes hidden by green glass shaped like eyes, on top of his head were a set of black cat ears with three hoop piercings in each one, and from behind him was a long black cat tail.

The villain frowned when he saw Royal Phoenix close up.

“You don’t look what they mentioned.” He said.

Royal Phoenix frowned in confusion, as did Marinette back in her room, seeing through her connection to her Champion.

“Who are you?” The villain demanded.

“I am Royal Phoenix, and I will take you down.” The Champion told him.

The villain laughed. “Well, I am Catastrophe, and I’d like to see you try.”

Catastrophe lunged at her with his cat claw and Royal Phoenix flew out of the way, the villain almost fell but managed to grab the railing and launch himself back onto the roof, kicking at Royal Phoenix who managed to dodge again.

Royal Phoenix then held out her arm with the feathers, the feathers stood up straight and began to grow and multiply until they formed the shape of a bow, Royal Phoenix placed her other hand to the feathered wrist and then drew it back, a glowing bow string and arrow made of flames appearing, she then let the flaming arrow launch at Catastrophe.

“They didn’t mention any of the Miraculous having flaming arrow weapons.” Catastrophe grunted to himself as he blocked the attach with his cat-claw.

Royal Phoenix frowned again, having overheard him.

“He’s working with someone.” She said.

Marinette’s glowing symbol appeared over Royal Phoenix’s face as they communicated.

“Being controlled rather.” Marinette corrected. “It must be whoever corrupted his Miraculous. He might be able to lead us the them if we get his Miraculous.”

“Right.” Royal Phoenix said.

The symbol faded and Royal Phoenix attacked again, this time aiming to get in close, she spotted the ring on one of his fingers and came across a problem, the ring was on the same hand as the cat-claw gauntlet. She’d have to risk getting in very close to have a chance at grabbing the ring, and the biggest problem came from her being a long-distance fighter while Catastrophe had the cat-claw the ring was hidden under to attack with if she got too close.

“This is going to be harder than I thought.” Royal Phoenix said to herself. “I need to contain him if I’m going to be able to get that ring, I’m not going to be able to grab it through fighting.”

Royal Phoenix stayed in the air and fired her arrows at Catastrophe while trying to formulate a plan to contain him, while the villain did his best to hit the Champion who continued to fly out of his reach, resorting to throwing objects at her in an attempt to knock her down.

“You can’t stay up there forever!” He taunted.

“I think I can.” Royal Phoenix called back.

Catastrophe growled but then his ears twitched as he heard a whimper, he then grinned as he realised who it was from, backing away from the Champion.

“You can’t if you want to save him.” He said.

Catastrophe then turned around and swung his arm, cutting through the rope holding the mayor up, sending him towards the ground.

Royal gasped in horror.

“Daddy!” She cried out.

Royal Phoenix quickly flew past Catastrophe and down the building, catching up to her falling father and grabbing his arms, then grunting in effort as she fought to slow their fall. They hit the ground with a thump that jarred their legs but were otherwise unharmed.

Royal Phoenix barely had any time to feel relief over saving her father before she felt a sharp pain in her back and was launched across the ground, her wings going out, she lifted herself up and winced in pain as she saw Catastrophe approaching her.

“‘Daddy’ huh? I never would have guessed that Chloe Bourgeois could ever be a superhero.” Catastrophe sneered.

“Shut up!” Royal Phoenix snapped.

Oh, how Royal Phoenix wished she could just go all out on the villain, she knew she could take him, but that would mean disappointing her Lady.

“Though, I think I can see why you were chosen, I can’t exactly attack your loved ones now that I know your identity, since you don’t love anyone other than yourself.” Catastrophe continued.

“Shut up!” Royal Phoenix repeated, firing off the arrow.

Catastrophe stepped to the side and the arrow shot passed him, causing Royal Phoenix’s eyes to widen in horror when she saw that it was now heading towards the crowd of bystanders. Acting quickly, she managed to recall the flames before it hit anyone, making her sigh in relief. But the distraction only allowed Catastrophe to hit her again, making her grip her arm in pain as the scratches bled.

Marinette’s symbol appeared over her face again.

“You need to lead him away from the crowd.” Marinette instructed. “He thinks you have a Miraculous, so he’ll follow you.”

“Got it.” Royal Phoenix said.

She kicked her leg out as Catastrophe approached, taking his legs out from her him as she jumped to her feet.

“You want my Miraculous, then come and get it.” Royal Phoenix goaded.

Her wings re-ignited as she took off into the skies and across Paris, a quick check back confirmed that Catastrophe was following.

As she flew, tears began to fall from her eyes, but rather than wipe them away she allowed them to collect on her hand, once she had finished crying she wiped the tears over the cuts on her arms and the injuries disappeared, the cuts in the cloth as well.

“Thank my Lady for healing tears.” Royal Phoenix said to herself.

Royal Phoenix looked behind her and gasped when she realised that she couldn’t see Catastrophe chasing after her anymore.

“Where did he go?” She questioned, flying back the way she came.

Royal Phoenix didn’t realise that she was flying lower until a flash of black in the corner was all the warning she was given before she was slammed into. She then grunted as she hit the ground, Catastrophe’s weight on top of her, pinning her so that she couldn’t move. Around them, people went running.

“Got yah.” Catastrophe laughed. “Now, where is that Miraculous?”

Keeping Royal Phoenix pinned, Catastrophe looked about her person, trying to find one of the pieces of jewellery he was told to take, but he couldn’t find any. Her ears were bare of red and black spotted earrings, and there was no sign of any Peacock or Butterfly shaped broaches/pins anywhere on her body, he could even see anything hidden in her hair.

“Where is it?” Catastrophe growled.

“Get out of my personal space!” Royal Phoenix exclaimed, struggling to get free.

“Or what?” Catastrophe growled.

Royal Phoenix answered by wiggling a leg free and then bringing it up in between his legs, hard. Catastrophe went ridged, then let out a high-pitched whine as he fell to the side.

Royal Phoenix stood up and dusted herself off nonchalantly.

She then bent down to grab at Catastrophe’s ring, but he had already rolled away and stumbled to his feet, crouching low with a hand still nursing his injury.

“That was a dirty move.” He hissed.

“No one ever said that I had to play fair.” Royal Phoenix responded.

She the frowned, wondering once again how she would get Catastrophe’s ring off him.

Marinette’s mark glowed in front of her face again.

“Get him to use his attack, Cataclysm, it should put him on a timer before he is forced to transform back. But be careful, it destroys anything it touches.” Marinette informed her.

Catastrophe frowned himself as he saw the glowing symbol that frequently popped up over Royal Phoenix’s face, it didn’t fit with the rest of her aesthetic and it was almost as if she was listening to someone else when it appeared.

“Come on then.” Royal Phoenix goaded Catastrophe as the mark disappeared. “Why don’t you hit me with everything you’ve got?”

Catastrophe laughed. “Believe me, you don’t want everything I’ve got. I’ve actually be going easy on you.”

“Oh, how much of gentleman.” Royal Phoenix said sarcastically. “But I’m not some frail little bird, I know I can kick your arse no matter what you have. Unless, it’s because you’re too much of a _pussy_ to properly fight me, afraid of getting beaten by a girl.” Royal Phoenix made a pretend sad face, rubbing a hand over her eye and pouting.

Catastrophe growled at the mocking. “Shut up!” He snapped.

Royal Phoenix grinned. Oh, how the tables had turned.

“Or what, _pussy_ , you’ll claw at me.” She taunted in a baby voice.

Catastrophe growled again and charged, Royal Phoenix dodging out of the way using her flight, the villain quickly turned around and charged again only to be met by the same result, their dance continued for the next few minutes, Royal Phoenix constantly throwing taunts throughout.

“Alright.” Catastrophe snarled. “You want my full power? Well, then here it is. Cataclysm!”

The blades on Catastrophe’s gauntlet withdrew and a black bubbling mass wrapped around his hand.

“This destroys anything it touches.” Catastrophe grinned madly. “I wonder what it does to humans.”

He then charged.

Royal Phoenix quickly used her flight to her advantage to dodge the deadly touch again.

“Great, I’ve got him to summon his attack.” Royal Phoenix muttered to herself. “Now how do I get him to use it without it touching me.”

The feathers on her wrist grew again and she fired more flaming arrows at Catastrophe, but he didn’t use his Cataclysm hand to block like she had hoped, instead using a bin lid he had found to block the ones he couldn’t dodge. Worse was that he could still somehow climb while his hands were occupied, allowing him to make his way up to her. Royal Phoenix was so occupied by firing at Catastrophe that she didn’t notice the brick being thrown her way, which impacted against the side of her head, sending her down onto a roof, her wings disappearing.

“Now you can’t escape.” Catastrophe hissed in victory as he joined Royal Phoenix on the roof.

Royal Phoenix seemed to be struggling to stand, one hand over her injury and also covering her face while the other rested against her knee as support, this made Catastrophe’s grin even wider. He walked towards the Champion, gradually picking up pace until he was running at her.

Hidden by her arm, Royal Phoenix grinned.

“Sucker.” She said once Catastrophe was close enough.

Catastrophe’s eyes widened, but he was too late as Royal Phoenix dropped her injured Façade, dodged out of the way of his hand, grabbed his arm as it went passed, and then flung him over her shoulder.

Catastrophe grunted as he hit a chimney, his hand hitting the roof and transferring his destructive power to it, he quickly stood and growled when he realised he’d wasted his attack, quickly running out of the way as the destruction spread.

“I think the word you’re looking for is, ‘oops’.” Royal Phoenix grinned victoriously.

The cat-claw blades popped out of their gauntlet as Catastrophe attacked with renewed anger.

“It makes no difference, I’ll still slice you to pieces.” The angered villain snarled as he attacked.

“Except that you’re now on a timer.” Royal Phoenix pointed out. “Meanwhile, I could keep this up all day thanks to my Lady.”

Catastrophe looked down at his ring and saw one of the pads blink before going out completely. He then looked at the area he’d destroyed at grinned.

“You could, but if I were you, I’d be more concerned about that.” Catastrophe said, pointing.

Royal Phoenix turned and gasped as she saw the chimney begin to fall thanks the Cataclysm attack, accompanied by screams from the street.

Disregarding Catastrophe, Royal Phoenix summoned her wings and shot off the roof, she passed the chimney as it fell, and kept going as she spotted people directly underneath, she swooped down and grabbed the two people out of the way just in time to avoid the chimney hitting the pavement. She then set the two civilians on their feet.

“Are you alright?” She asked.

Chloe was slightly shocked to recognise them as two girls from her class.

“Yes, thank you.” Juleka said, stunned. “That was awesome.”

“Well, you’re welcome.” Royal Phoenix said, smiling at the praise.

“Wait, Chloe?” Rose asked.

“Uh, got to go, still fighting a villain.” Royal Phoenix said, flying back onto the roof.

But as she reached the roof and looked around, there was no sign of Catastrophe anywhere around, and she doubted it was another attempt at ambushing.

“Gone.” She said in frustration.

She began her flight back to the hotel, crying more healing tears along the way.

* * *

 

Back at the hotel, the hostages had been rescued and were receiving medical attention for any injuries they may have received, mayor Bourgeois especially after his fall, though apart from a few scratches he seemed to be fine. But the mayor wasn’t concerned over his fall anymore, his focus was more on his daughter.

“What happened to my girl?” He questioned Sabrina, who had been allowed to see him.

“I don’t know. This glowing symbol appeared in front of her face, she agreed to something, she was wrapped in purple light, and suddenly she was a superhero and took off to fight that guy.” Sabrina explained.

“You mean, my little girl is fighting that, that thing.” Mayor Bourgeois attempted to stand but was stopped by the medical attendants as well as his own wooziness, the fall had done more to him than he thought. “No, I need stop her.” The mayor insisted.

“You’re not in any state to do anything.” Said one of the attendants. “And considering what we saw, I think she can hold her own right now.”

The attendant quickly shrunk back from the deadly gaze the mayor gave him, suddenly fearing for his job.

“She is still just a child, I don’t know what’s happened to her but I won’t let her endanger herself like that.” The mayor said.

There was a sudden _whoosh,_ and everyone looked up to see Royal Phoenix flying above them, who then flew down and perched herself above the entrance to the hotel.

“Chloe, get down from there!” The mayor made his way to the front of the crowd, ignoring his dizziness, and was slightly shocked by his daughter’s appearance now that he could get a good look. “What happened to you?” He asked in worry.

Royal Phoenix smiled at him.

She then grasped her hands together and brought them in front of her face, closing her eyes and continuing to smile, she brought her hands to her mouth and whispered something into them before flinging her arms out. Purple light shot out of her opened hands, which then broke up, each piece taking the form of a purple butterfly until there were a swarm of them.

The butterflies then flew to the side of the hotel where they landed on the walls and opened up their wings, until the side of the building was covered by purple. People watched in amazement as an image appeared in the purple, like a screen, it gradually became clearer until a lady dressed in purple and wearing a mask, sitting on a butterfly-shaped throne, became apparent.

“Citizens of Paris.” The Lady spoke clearly. “I am…”

* * *

 

Marinette fought to keep her composure as she presented herself to Paris, she felt that as Paris’ new hero that she owned them context for what was happening, and also to explain who were the good and bad guys; she was just glad that the screen she presented herself on didn’t show her bedroom for people to see and recognise. Since she obviously couldn’t use her own name to introduce herself with, she needed to come up with one, problem was that she didn’t think of needing one until she was already speaking to Paris. Her mind quickly flashed through names to do with her theme to find an appropriate one, Butterfly was too simple, Papillion didn’t fit, she couldn’t remember the Chinese word for butterfly, Mariposa was too close to her own name, her mind continued to skim through names, unconsciously digging into the history of her Miraculous.

“…Nymph.” She eventually managed to find before her pause went on too long.

Nymph, short for Nymphalidae, a family of butterflies, it fit.

“Today you have been experience to an attack, and attack by someone who seeks for power with no care for the destruction and misery they cause in their search. But have hope, for as long as this dark cloud hangs over Paris, I will be there to banish it, to call upon one of you to become my Champion and fight back against this evil, to gift you with the power to fight Catastrophe whenever he may appear. I swear this to you.” Nymph spoke, her voice strong.

With those final words, she recalled her Tiānshǐ.

* * *

 

Understanding that her time was up as the connection to her Lady began to weaken, Royal Phoenix hopped down to the ground and watched with everyone else as the purple butterflies took flight again, morphing back into the purple light that they had come from, which travelled back down to Royal Phoenix. The light wrapped around her, and when it faded, a normal Chloe Bourgeois stood in her place.

A single purple butterfly, the Tiānshǐ, remained, flying up from the ribbon around Chloe’s wrist, it briefly fluttered around Chloe’s face, who smiled at it, before flying off into the sky.

There was a moment of silence before a cacophony of noise, numerous news reporters attempting to speak to Chloe about what had just happened, asking questions about Nymph and Chloe becoming her Champion.

A police officer made his way through the crowd.

“Miss Bourgeois, would you mind coming with me, we have a few questions we want to ask.” He said.

“Uh.” Chloe said, looking worried.

“You’re not in trouble, we just want to ask some questions.” The officer tried to reassure.

“You will do no such thing.” Mayor Bourgeois interrupted, pushing his way through the crowd, quickly grabbing his daughter. “I will not have my daughter treated like a criminal.”

“We’re not.” The officer defended. “We just want to know some things.”

“Chloe has been through a lot today, there will be no questions. I’ll send her recount of what happened once she is ready.” The mayor said. “I recommend for now that you work on crowd control.”

The officer reluctantly nodded, knowing that he couldn’t go against the mayor, and worked on controlling the reporters, who were still trying to get answers out of Chloe.

“Let’s go somewhere quiet and talk this out.” The mayor said to Chloe, who nodded in response.

The made to go into their hotel, only to be stopped by Sabrina’s father.

“Sorry, sir, but we haven’t finished searching the building, nobody can go in until we’re sure that man didn’t leave something nasty behind.” Officer Raincomprix said.

“Now, see here-” The mayor began.

“It’s okay daddy, they’re just making sure everything is safe.” Chloe interrupted. “We can go to Marinette’s instead, I’m sure they wouldn’t mind.”

“Yes, yes, I suppose you’re right.” The mayor said. “I’m sorry, it’s been a stressful day.”

“It’s okay sir.” Officer Raincomprix said. “We should have the entire building searched soon.”

“Good.”

The two Bourgeois made their way over to where a limo was waiting for them, which drove them the short distance to the Dupain-Cheng bakery.

* * *

 

The Tiānshǐ flew through her window and landed on Nymph’s hand.

“Now what do I do with you?” She asked.

In answer the Tiānshǐ flew briefly onto her other arm and then crawled up it until it reached the top of the cane held in her hand, it then sunk into the crystal on top the cane, and when it crawled out it was a normal white butterfly once again.

“I guess this is how it works.” Nymph said.

There was a beeping and Nymph looked down to see one of the wings on her broach fade out.

“And I get a countdown timer too.” She noted.

“Marinette, the Bourgeois’ are here!” Her mother’s voice came from below.

“Ah!” Nymph freaked. “I need to turn back now, Chloe could come up before the countdown is finished. How do I turn back again? Ah!”

* * *

 

“I apologise for intruding like this and interrupting your business hours, I’ll make sure you’re compensated.” Mayor Bourgeois said as he sat down on the sofa in the living area above the bakery.

“It’s fine.” Sabine insisted. “You’ve both been a lot and I don’t anticipate we’d be getting much business today after what’s happened.”

“Would you like some tea, I don’t image your nerves would be very good after what you’ve been through.” Tom offered.

“That would be very nice, thank you.” The mayor said.

“I’ll go get Marinette.” Chloe said, making to leave.

“You will sit down and explain exactly what happened.” Her father said.

Chloe sighed and pouted, but sat down as ordered.

“Now, what’s going on? Who was that man who attacked us, who’s this Nymph person, what did she do to you, is she bad news?” Her father asked.

“No!” Chloe exclaimed at the last question before composing herself. “Nymph is a good person, daddy. I don’t know all the details and it’s a little hazy, but the basics of it is that the guy I fought, Catastrophe, is in possession of a ring that grants him powers but has also corrupted him to act like this, he’s after something called the Miraculouses, one of which is in the possession of my Lady, Nymph, who uses the powers it grants her to create Champions to fight Catastrophe.” She explained.

“And you were one of these Champions?” Her father asked.

Chloe nodded.

“And these Miraculouses, what are they?”

Chloe shrugged. “That’s where things get hazy. I only got the information that they’re powerful and destructive in the wrong hands like with Catastrophe, and that his Miraculous allows him to destroy. That’s all I got.”

“Well then.” Her father said. “I guess that means Nymph and her Champions are heroes then, I’ll inform the media of this.”

“Good.” Chloe said. “I don’t want anyone daring to think that I or my Lady are villains like Catastrophe. I’ve got to go tell Marinette about this, I just left her upstairs.”

Chloe quickly shot off up the stairs to Marinette’s room, who had only just managed to chase off the last of her butterflies after transforming back, the timer having thankfully ran out before Chloe’s appearance, she was then subjected to Chloe’s, embellished, story of what happened.

* * *

 

Catastrophe landed came to a stop at some warehouses along the Sein, just managing to land in time before his transformation wore off, leaving Adrien panting in exhaustion in his place.

“You failed.” A voice came.

Adrien turned to face his mysterious friend.

“Hey, I tried my best, but I could find any of the Miraculous you mentioned on her. But at least I know who she is.” Adrien said.

“You did not find a Miraculous on her because she was not in possession of a Miraculous.” The stranger told him.

“What? Then how did she transform and do all those things?” Adrien asked.

“She is the result of a Miraculous, the Butterfly Miraculous, which grants its user the ability to create Champions who have powers.” The stranger explained.

“Couldn’t you have explained that sooner? You can’t blame me for failing when I don’t even know what I’m fighting.”

“And it is not your fault. I had not anticipated the Butterfly Miraculous’ return, it has been lost for a long time, I had expected you to fight your Ladybug counterpart or even the Peacock. But now we know it is active and we can be prepared.” The stranger said.

Adrien sighed, happy that the Stranger had told him that he wasn’t to blame.

“How do I defeat these Champions then?” He asked.

“Each Champion carries with them an object that is possessed by the power of the Butterfly Miraculous and is what gives them their power, by breaking this object you will undo the possession and return the Champion to normal.” The stranger explained. “But it will be hard tracking down the Miraculous wielder themselves, as they are usually far from the fight as they direct their Champion, but given enough time I may be able to find their location.”

“So, I just keep fighting and defeating their Champions until you find them?” Adrien asked.

“Yes.” The stranger said. “And continue to draw out the other Miraculous wielders, they should eventually show themselves, especially if we manage to track down the Butterfly.”

“Got it. Anything else?” Adrien asked.

“Just to be on your guard, you have lost the element of surprise now, so the wielders will be ready.” The stranger said.

The stranger then disappeared, leaving Adrien alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the stage is now set.  
> In regards to Marinette’s hero name, Xin Jing had actually won the vote by one point, but I decided that since the story had been known as ‘Nymph and the Corrupted Miraculous’ for so long and the difference was only one point, I’d keep the name as Nymph.  
> I haven’t decided when the Ladybug of Peacock hero will appear yet, or what costume the Ladybug hero will have. I made four different costumes on female models, but they can easily be put on male, and they can be found in my DeviantART gallery if anyone wants to cast their votes for that still: https://dreamvixen2511.deviantart.com/art/Alternate-Ladybug-costumes-665255174


	9. The next day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloe gets some attention for being Royal Phoenix and Marinette talks to Adrien

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for being gone for so long, my motivation to write seems to be drained lately

The next day, the later-half of the previous school day had been cancelled due to all the chaos, Marinette and Chloe sat in their usual seats, and Chloe was surrounded by all of her classmates.

“What did it feel like?” Kim asked.

“What do you remember?” Asked Mylene.

“Not much.” Chloe answered. “It’s like a dream now. But I remember feeling like I could do anything, and the sensation of flying, and that I needed to stop that Catastrophe guy.”

“You were so heroic.” Rose gushed. “The way you swooped in and rescued Juleka and I from being crushed.”

“It was awesome.” Juleka agreed.

Marinette leaned as far forward in her seat as she could.

“Feels good, doesn’t it?” She whispered to Chloe.

Chloe didn’t respond at first, but gave a small nod.

“I’ve already created a blog.” Alya said excitedly, holding up her phone. “I have to document heroes and villains appearing in Paris.”

“Oh, let me see!” Chloe said happily.

Chloe shot forward out of her seat and snatched Alya’s phone out of her hand to look at the blog.

“Hey.” Alya protested.

“Chloe, you don’t take other people’s belongings without asking.” Marinette moaned.

“Fine. Maybe I borrow your phone to look at your blog?” Chloe asked reluctantly, not looking willing to hand back the phone.

Alya rolled her eyes.

“Fine. But break it and you’re getting me a new one.” She said

Chloe quickly scrolled her way through the blog, there was barely anything considering that it had just been created, just a couple of posts giving a rundown on the previous day’s events and a discussion section about Catastrophe, Nymph and Royal Phoenix. Chloe grinned in satisfaction when she saw that the image of Royal Phoenix was on the front page of the blog, as well as a blurred image of Nymph sitting on her throne. She then looked as the name of the blog sceptically.

“Kaleidoscoop?” She asked, pulling a face as she handed back the phone. “That’s seriously the name you’re going with?”

“It’s a work in progress.” Alya defended. “And a group of butterflies is called a kaleidoscope.”

“Why not go with a name that has Nymph or Royal Phoenix in the title?” Chloe asked.

“Nymph didn’t fit with anything I could think of, and I’m pretty sure Nymph said that you were only _one_ of her champions, meaning that are going to be others, so it wouldn’t make sense to name the blog after Royal Phoenix.” Alya explained.

“Please, Nymph is only going to need me, we’re going to be the perfect team, Lady and her Champion.” Chloe bragged.

“Are you sure about that?”

“Of course I am, I was practically born to be a hero.”

Around the classroom, Chloe’s classmates shot her disbelieving looks.

“Well, miss hero, how about an interview for the blog, people are dying to know all they can about Nymph and Royal Phoenix?” Alya asked.

“An interview?” Chloe said thoughtfully. “I don’t know, I’d prefer it to be on a big news station, I’d get much more attention. But, Daddy has warned me about those sort of people, while you’re just a student blogger. I suppose I can spare some time for an interview, but I won’t answer the questions I don’t like, and if I find any lies when it’s published…”

“Yeah, yeah.” Alya waved her off. “I promise not to lie or stretch any truths, I do plan on being a professional.”

Alya held up her phone and opened the recording setting.

“Wait, how do I look?” Chloe stopped her. “Sabrina, mirror!”

Marinette gave a pointed chough and Chloe sighed.

“Please.” She added.

Sabrina handed Chloe her mirror and the blond began checking her face for any imperfections and stray hairs.

“Alright, class, seats, please.” Madam Bustier said as she entered the room.

Alya moaned. “Can we continue this at lunch?” she asked.

“Fine.” Chloe said.

She needed to redo her hair and makeup anyway, she wouldn’t be able to stand anything being wrong with her complexion for the internet to see, she’d seen enough shows about celebrities to know how much the smallest of imperfections can be used as weapons against someone.

Behind Madam Bustier, in walked Adrien, and Chloe’s heart clenched. She remembered that he would sit next to Marinette in the seats behind, and right now she didn’t know if she could take that, she didn’t know how he’d react. Would he make more insults, would he believe that she’d changed for the better, could they go back to being friends after what happened? Chloe’s eyes flicked around the room for an answer, and her eyes landed on Alya, who was going back to her seat.

“Uh, Alya.” She said uncomfortably.

Alya turned.

“Yes?” She asked.

“I…about yesterday, you can sit next to Marinette now. I mean, you two are friends too, right? So, you can sit together.” Chloe said.

Why was it so hard for her to get across what she wanted to say?

Marinette looked at Chloe, and then at Adrien, who was standing at the door, looking as if he was trying to work something out as he looked at the empty space next to her, and then looked back at Chloe in sympathy as she understood what was going on.

“She’s trying to apologise, in her own way.” Marinette told a confused Alya. “Besides, we can sit together now.”

“But, isn’t that his seat?” Alya asked, pointing at Adrien.

“I’m sure he’s willing to swap.” Marinette said.

Alya seemed to pick up on the situation somewhat, she shrugged and sat down without further protest.

Adrien watched as his previous space was filled but wasn’t that bothered, it meant he didn’t have to sit near Chloe. He looked over at where the girl who took his place sat and saw her space empty, next to the boy he had tried to befriend the previous day. So he walked over and filled the empty space.

“Oh, hey.” Nino said. “How are you doing after, you know, yesterday?”

“I’m fine.” Adrien said. “Ready to start anew.”

* * *

 

Marinette sat in her wheelchair, doodling in her sketch book while Alya interviewed Chloe for her new blog. As expected, the blond was made sure to make a spectacle out of it, dramatizing her heroic actions, claiming that she wasn’t scared at all, and stretching the truth in some parts considering Marinette didn’t remember some events happening the exact same way Chloe was describing them.

“And then I saved some civilians from the falling chimney, but when I went back to face Catastrophe, he was gone. He no doubt knew he wouldn’t win fairly, and so ran off with his tail between his legs while I was being a hero.” Chloe finished her recount of the fight against Catastrophe.

“How did it feel to become Royal Phoenix?” Alya asked.

“It was indescribable.” Chloe said. “I felt so strong, like I could do anything, I knew exactly what to do with the powers gifted to me by Nymph.”

“And what about Nymph?”

“She was so lovely.” Chloe sighed. “The way she spoke was so comforting, her words filled me with determination and strength, and she was always with me as I fought Catastrophe.”

The interview rounded up.

“I’ll tell you when I’ve posted the interview.” Alya said.

“Good, I want to see it as soon as possible.” Chloe said standing. “Now, I have to go. Sorry, Marinette, but daddy wants to spend lunch with me.”

“It’s fine.” Marinette said.

Chloe left, leaving Alya and Marinette alone.

“This is so cool.” Alya said. “Paris has its own superhero and I got to be the first one to get the details.”

“You’re really excited about this, huh?” Marinette asked.

“Of course I am.” Alya burst out. “I’ve always wanted to be a hero, they’re so cool and, well, heroic, fighting for truth and justice. Even Chloe was like that when she became Royal Phoenix, I can only image what Nymph would be like.”

“I’m sure she’s like any person, wanting to do the right thing.” Marinette downplayed.

“But it’s that she does the right thing, instead of abusing her powers like this Catastrophe guy.” Alya explained.

“Oh, I knew Chloe left something out of her interview!” Marinette exclaimed.

“What? What?” Alya asked eagerly, bringing her phone back out.

“Chloe explained to me that Nymph told her, Catastrophe isn’t in control. The source of his power corrupted him, that’s why Royal Phoenix tried to take it off him.” Marinette explained.

“So, this Catastrophe guy may be a normal person forced to be evil?” Alya asked.

Marinette nodded.

“Just like Venom.” Alya said, typing down what Marinette told her.

“I think so.” Marinette agreed.

She knew who Venom was, just not the exact details about the comic character.

“Anyway, I need to get back home and edit all of this, I want it up on the blog before lunch ends.” Alya said. “Do you want to come with.”

“I’m alright.” Marinette waved off.

The two girls went their separate ways.

“What do you want to do now?” Nooroo asked her from inside her pocket.

“Just travel around for a bit, maybe go to the mansion to meet the butterflies.” Marinette told him, pushing the wheels of her wheelchair.

“How’s the mansion doing?” Nooroo asked curiously.

“Last I checked, Chloe told me that it was almost done.” Marinette said. “She’s really excited about it, but I don’t really mind all that much, I don’t really have much use for the mansion. My parents and I are happy at the bakery. Did your old holder live there?”

“He, and his family did.” Nooroo said. “But one by one they left, and it eventually became empty. That’s why he left the mansion to whoever found me, there was no one for him to leave it to.”

“That’s so sad.” Marinette said, patting Nooroo’s head comfortingly.

“It’s alright, because I have you as my Miraculous wielder now.” Nooroo said.

“Aww, thanks.” Marinette smiled.

As Marinette pushed herself along, she crossed through the part and spotted someone sitting on one the benches, it was Adrien. She bit her lip and then sighed in defeat, changing course and wheeling over to her.

“Hey, are you alright?” She asked.

Adrien looked up from where his head had been in his hands.

“Uh, yeah.” Adrien said. “Marinette, right?” “Yep.”

“I’m sorry for yesterday.” Adrien apologised. “I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“It’s fine, you’re no where near the worst I’ve gotten.” Marinette assured. “Are you sure you’re alright, you’re a bit pale?”

“Yeah, I’m just tired. I’m surprised you’re talking to me though, you seem like good friends with Chloe.” Adrien responded.

“Just because I’m Chloe’s friend, it doesn’t mean I’m like her.”

“But, didn’t she tell you what happened yesterday?”

“She did, but she deserved it.” Marinette said bluntly.

Adrien raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“Wow, I was not expecting that.” He said honestly.

“I know all too well what Chloe can be like.” Marinette explained. “Whatever you said to her was probably deserving.”

‘Oh, it was.’ Adrien thought to himself.

“In fact, it’s probably exactly what she needed.” Marinette continued. “I’ve done my best to make Chloe nicer to others, but I only ever managed to do so much, but this time I managed to get through to her about how bad she is when she came to me after what you said to her. She seems to have taken it on board this time and promised to do better.”

“And you believe her.” Adrien scoffed.

“Well, she’s doing well so far, she managed to make up with Alya, in some capacity. And I’ll do my best to keep her on track in the future.”

“Why bother, it shouldn’t be your responsibility to make her ‘improve’.”

“Maybe not, but I’ve seen Chloe do better, and I want her to improve.”

“And I suppose you’ll want me to forgive her?” Adrien scoffed.

Marinette shook her head. “I don’t expect you to, it’d be nice but it’s your choice and you don’t have to if you don’t want to, no one should hold that against you. I forgave her, but that’s me, and I saw her ability to change and resolved to help her change. You’re you, and it’s up to Chloe to earn your forgiveness, and you to decide if she’s earned it.”

Adrien smiled. “I’ve never heard it like that before, thanks.”

Marinette smiled back.

“Bye then.” She waved, rolling away.

Adrien waved back, cheeks tinged with red slightly, unsure of how to feel.

“She’s nice.” He said to himself.

“Adrien!”

“And the good mood is gone.” He muttered.

Turning, he saw Natalie standing at the limo, holding the door open expectantly. With a reluctant sigh, he entered the limo.

Once the limo started into motion, the screen inside the limo switched on, showing his father.

“Adrien, the nature of our agreement is that I allow you to attend college as long as you report back to Natalie when you leave.” Gabriel Agreste told his son sternly.

“I just wanted some time outside on my own.” Adrien protested.

“That doesn’t matter. If you can’t uphold your end of the deal, I can easily take you out of college to home school again.” Gabriel told him.

“Yes, father.” Adrien sighed.

The screen switched off and Adrien slumped in his seat, scowling.

“When we return home, you will practice your piano lessons before lunch.” Natalie told him.

When he returned home, Adrien was sent straight to his room, his ring pulsing on his finger, instead of playing his piano, he set his phone to play piano music instead, walking over to his window.

“I think it’s time for Catastrophe to make another appearance.” Adrien said. “Claws Out!”

* * *

 

Chloe sat with her father in a fancy restaurant, enjoying their meal together. She knew exactly why they were both there, even though her fathers job kept him away unless it was for special occasions, the events of the previous day had given them both a scare, it made her feel special to know that her father just wanted to spend more time with her.

Their peace didn’t last, however, as an unwelcome face broke through the window.

“Hello, everyone.” Catastrophe smirked.

The response was screaming as everyone tried to run to the doors to escape.

Chloe quickly stood up as Catastrophe made his way over to her, placing herself in between him and her dad.

“I won’t let you hurt him.” She said bravely.

“And what are you going to do? I don’t see any flames around you this time.” Catastrophe mocked.

Chloe flinched, suddenly very aware that she wasn’t Royal Phoenix this time and suddenly much less brave.

“But don’t worry, it’s not him I’m after.” Catastrophe smirked, grabbing hold of Chloe’s arm.

Chloe cried out in pain as the claws dug into her skin.

“Unhand my daughter.” The mayor demanded.

Catastrophe easily knocked him away.

“Daddy!” Chloe cried out in worry.

“Nothing personal.” Catastrophe told her as he began to drag her out of the restaurant. “Well, I guess it is a bit. You see, I need a hostage, and who better than someone who I can make an example out of?”

“Get off!” Chloe tried to pull and scratch her way out of the villain’s hold, to no avail.

“Hold still.” Catastrophe told her.

Chloe’s eyes widened in horror as he produced some duct tape from seemingly nowhere.

* * *

 

Marinette sat in the garden of her mansion, it still felt weird for her to acknowledge that it was hers, reading a book, her butterflies even rested on her and her wheelchair or fluttered around her, Nooroo was off somewhere in one of the flower patches.

Her phone rang, disturbing the butterflies around her.

“Hello?” She answered.

“Where are you?” It was Alya.

“Uh, Aile crescent.” Marinette answered. “Why?”

Alya sighed in relief. “Catastrophe’s back, I wanted to make sure you were safe.”

Marinette frowned at the news but was also confused. “Why would I be in danger?”

“Um, well…” Alya trailed off.

“Alya?” Marinette questioned sternly.

“He took Chloe, and I was worried that you might have met up with her, given that your friends.” Alya said. “Marinette?”

“No, I’m fine, I wasn’t with Chloe.” Marinette told Alya. “I’ve got to go.”

Marinette hung up before Alya could say anything else.

“Catastrophe again?” Nooroo asked as he flew over.

“Yeah. And he’s using Chloe as the hostage this time. It’s time to make a new Champion.” Marinette said.

Looking around, she found herself too out in the open, so she pushed her wheelchair further into the property until she reached a small grove of trees that hid her from view.

“Alright. Wings Rise!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment  
> And here's a rough drawing I did of Royal Phoenix: https://dreamvixen2511.deviantart.com/art/Royal-Phoenix-730437749


	10. Lady Wi-Fi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nymph chooses her next Champion

Nymph’s throne was different. She couldn’t help but notice that after she transformed.

Her new throne was more majestic than the one transformed from her computer chair, the back was still carved to be shaped like butterfly wings, but the details were intricately carved, and there were arm rests now, also carved with swirling designs, and the legs of the throne were hidden by wispy material.

But Nymph had time to think about her new throne later, she needed to find a Champion to save Chloe.

* * *

Alya panted as she ran towards where all the commotion was, her phone at the ready to catch the new super villain attack, she shoved her way through the crowd of people until police tape stopped her from going any further.

“Man, I can’t see anything from here.” Ayla complained.

Looking around, Alya spotted a way past the police tape without being notice.

“Aha.” She grinned triumphantly.

Manoeuvring out of the crowd, she snuck through the police’s blind spot successfully, moving quickly until she reached the sight of all the action, positioning herself in a safer place while she began filming on her phone.

“Hey, Alya here with the current situation!” She said into her phone. “Paris’ newest villain has struck yet again, this time taking hostage Chloe Bourgeois on the Eiffel tower.”

She swung the camera around to the Eiffel tower where Chloe was dangling upside down from the middle, Catastrophe leaning against one of the metal beams.

“I know you’re listening, Nymph!” Catastrophe shouted out. “I have your Champion. If you don’t turn over your Miraculous, she drops! And if I see any of your Champions, well, splat.”

Catastrophe let go of the rope holding Chloe to the tower, causing the girl to scream in fear as she suddenly dropped, before he grabbed hold of the rope again.

“You’ll want to hurry, my arm’s getting tired.” He taunted.

“Are you saying I’m fat?” Chloe screamed in anger at the villain, forgetting her priorities.

“Fat? No.” Catastrophe said. “It’s your ego that’s too heavy. In fact, it’s so big that I don’t think I can hold on any more.”

Catastrophe let go of the rope again, and Chloe screamed as she was sent towards the ground.

Just before she could smash into the concrete, the rope around her went tight and she was jerked to a stop, and then began to rise again.

“Ha, your face.” Catastrophe laughed, pulling the rope until Chloe was level again. “Now, stay quiet, or next time I won’t bother to catch you.”

Chloe was still recovering from her near impact with the ground to say anything, shock stealing away her voice.

“That’s messed up!” Alya angrily declared from where she was filming. “Playing with her life like that.”

She held no love for Chloe herself, the blond hadn’t exactly left the best of first impressions on her, and despite her turning into Royal Phoenix and apologising for their first meeting, at least that was what Marinette said Chloe was trying to do, Alya could tell that they wouldn’t be friends any time soon. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t currently getting angry at Chloe’s mistreatment at the hands of Catastrophe.

“There must be something I could do.” Alya said, looking to see if there was a way to get to Chloe without Catastrophe spotting her.

* * *

Nymph smiled, feeling the need to do right despite personal feelings glowing strongly within her new friend.

“The need to do something, to protect. This is what I need.” She said, holding out her hand.

One of her butterflies fluttered down onto her finger and Nymph brought it to her lips, kissing it’s wings gently to transfer her power into it.

“Go, my Tiānshǐ, give her the power to be a hero.” She said.

The purple butterfly lifted off from her finger, flying into the sky and towards its target.

* * *

Alya still had her phone out, though it was no longer pointed at the action, she was too distracted to keep her arm up. It took her moment to notice the glowing purple butterfly making its way over to her, she’d only just recognised what it was just as it landed on her phone, sinking into it.

Alya gasped as Nymph’s butterfly symbol appeared over her face and her vision faded to white, Nymph herself appearing before her.

“You want to help, don’t you?” Nymph asked Alya gently.

Alya looked at her in awe before nodding. “Yes, I do.” She clenched her free hand in determination. “You’re going to give me the ability to do that, right?”

Nymph smiled.

“Yes I am.” She answered. “I will give you the power to be a hero as my Champion. But, you must take Catastrophe’s ring from him without hurting him, he is only a puppet in all this. Do you accept my gift?”

Alya nodded enthusiastically, grinning in excitement. “I do.”

“Then, Lady Wi-Fi, go and be a hero.” Nymph proclaimed.

Emerging from her phone, purple light enveloped Alya in a cocoon, and a few seconds later it broke open to reveal Lady Wi-Fi.

Lady Wi-Fi wore a black body suit with white boots and gloves with three white bands above each of them and a white belt that was slanted diagonally on her hips with a purple line running through the middle of it and a purple power button in the middle. Over the body suit she wore a purple crop top that went under her gloves, a white wi-fi signal symbol was emblazoned on the front of the top and attached to the back of the top was a short purple cape that went to her hips, and covering her face was a simple purple mask. Her phone had become a white wrist gauntlet with a black screen on the top.

Lady Wi-Fi looked over at the Eiffel tower before disappearing in a burst of pixels, adsorbing into a nearby wi-fi antenna.

Below the Eiffel tower, a cop’s phone rang, causing disapproving looks to be shot his way, smiling sheepishly, he reached into his police car to turn it off.

“I’m sure I put it on silent.” He muttered to himself.

As soon as he opened his phone to switch it off, he was surprised by Lady Wi-Fi re-materialising out of it.

“Stay back.” Lady Wi-Fi instructed the officers. “I am Lady Wi-Fi, Champion of Lady Nymph. I’ll handle this.”

“Please, save my daughter.” Mayor Bourgeois pleaded to Lady Wi-Fi as he appeared from the crowd of officers.

“Don’t worry, I will.” She assured.

Holding up her arm with the gauntlet, a purple fast-forward symbol appeared, with her other hand, Lady Wi-Fi swiped over it, causing it to fly out of the screen and enlarge in front of her. She hopped on it, the symbol acting as a hoverboard that took her towards Catastrophe and his hostage.

“Oh, hello.” Catastrophe said as Lady Wi-Fi appeared in front of him.

“How about you let Chloe down gently, and we go settle this elsewhere?” Lady Wi-Fi proposed.

“And why should we do that, it’s quite a view from here.” Catastrophe toyed with the rope holding Chloe up.

“So we can talk. Maybe get rid of that corruption in that ring of yours.” Lady Wi-Fi said, remembering what Marinette and Nymph had told her about Catastrophe.

Catastrophe looked at her in confusion. “What corruption?” He asked.

Lady Wi-Fi’s eyes widened, she hadn’t thought about Catastrophe not realising he was being corrupted, though it seemed obvious now.

Nymph’s mark appeared over her face.

 _“You may be able to get through to him.”_ She heard her Lady’s voice. _“Keep going, tell him!”_

“You’re being controlled.” Lady Wi-Fi told Catastrophe. “That ring, it’s making to do all of this. Is this really who you are, threatening the lives of others?”

Catastrophe looked at the ring on his finger and then at Chloe still dangling from the rope in his grip, contemplating the Champion’s words. But then the ring on his finger pulsed darkly, and he didn’t want to consider her words anymore.

Catastrophe’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “I don’t believe you.” He hissed at Lady Wi-Fi. “You’re just trying to trick me into giving up my ring! I’m the opposite of being controlled, this ring makes me free. And I’m not giving it up!”

Catastrophe lashed out at Lady Wi-Fi, inadvertently releasing his hold on the rope keeping Chloe up.

Chloe screamed as she was once again sent towards the ground.

“No!” Lady Wi-Fi screamed as she dodged Catastrophe’s attack, watching the blond fall.

Her hand quickly went to her gauntlet, swiping the symbol that had appeared, sending it at Chloe while she took a kick from Catastrophe.

Chloe’s screaming abruptly cut off, but there was no sound of impact accompanying her silenced screams.

The police officers and mayor looked in shock at Chloe Bourgeois, who was stuck a few metres in the air, frozen in time by the pause symbol Lady Wi-Fi had thrown at her.

“Good shot.” Catastrophe complimented the Champion as they continued to fight.

Nymph’s symbol appeared over Lady Wi-Fi’s face again.

 _“It doesn’t seem like words will work.”_ Nymph guided her. _“His ring is keeping him from listening, you’ll have to take it by force.”_

Lady Wi-Fi nodded, bringing up the pause symbol on her gauntlet again.

“Why don’t you try it out too?” She said, firing the symbol at Catastrophe.

Catastrophe slashed with his clawed gauntlet, dissipating the symbol.

“I’m not really one for staying still.” He said.

“You will soon.” Lady Wi-Fi shot back.

The two of them continued to fight, ducking in and out of the metal beams as they climbed higher, until they were stuck fighting at the top. Running into the room at the top of the tower, Lady Wi-Fi quickly doubled back under Catastrophe’s legs as he chased her, kicking him in the back for further measure, she slammed the door closed behind her, sending a lock symbol at the door to keep it closed. Catastrophe was quick to slam himself against the door.

“Okay, I need a better plan.” Lady Wi-Fi said.

She looked back over the edge of the Eiffel tower, frowning when she saw the damage done to it in her fight against Catastrophe.

“We can’t stay here, any more and the tower’s going to fall down.” Lady Wi-Fi concluded, looking at the people down below.

Bringing up her wrist, she summoned her forward symbol again, hopping onto it and riding it to ground level. Underneath the tower, she spotted firemen attempting to reach Chloe, who was still frozen in the air.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got her.” Lady Wi-Fi said.

Bringing up the pause symbol on her gauntlet, she drew an X over it, causing the symbol on Chloe to disappear. Chloe’s screams resumed as she once again dropped towards the ground, only to be caught by Lady Wi-Fi.

“Did you take care of Catastrophe?” One of the firemen asked, taking Chloe off the Champion to look her over for injuries.

“No, not yet.” Lady Wi-Fi reported. “You need to clear out the area as far as you can, so no one gets caught in the crossfire.”

“You heard the lady.” The fireman said to his co-workers. “Come on, Miss Bourgeois, we need to get you to safety.”

Chloe scowled but allowed herself to be taken away, looking back at Lady Wi-Fi longingly.

“Why didn’t she choose me.” Chloe pouted.

“That wasn’t very nice.” Catastrophe growled as he dropped to the ground, having finally broken out of the room he was locked in.

“You needed a time out.” Lady Wi-Fi shrugged.

Catastrophe hissed, attacking with more ferocity, forcing Lady Wi-Fi to play defence. She grunted as she was launched backwards into a pole, it hurt, but it gave her the room she needed to launch her attacks again.

But when she went to bring up a symbol, nothing happened.

Lady Wi-Fi gasped, looking down at her gauntlet to find the screen blank, save for the signal bar that was showing no bars. She looked behind her to see that the pole she had been thrown into was a wi-fi antenna, which was now broken.

“What’s wrong, your powers not working?” Catastrophe mocked her as he advanced.

Lady Wi-Fi gritted her teeth, looking for a way out of her situation.

“Alright, you got me, I surrender.” She held up her hands.

Catastrophe eyed her disbelievingly.

“You’re going to give up, just like that?” He asked.

“Yep.” Lady Wi-Fi said. “I’ve been bested.”

“If you’re admitting defeat, then take me to Nymph.” Catastrophe said, untrustingly.

“Alright.” Lady Wi-Fi said.

With her hands still in the air, Lady Wi-Fi began to walk, Catastrophe behind her with his claw blades not far from her back. As they walked, Lady Wi-Fi kept an eye on her gauntlet.

She grinned when the signal bars returned.

Thinking quickly, she dove forwards, ensuring that she was out of the way of Catastrophe’s blades.

“I knew it!” Catastrophe growled. “Get back here!”

“Only if you can catch me.” Lady Wi-Fi called back.

She quickly ran towards the closest source of wi-fi, an abandoned phone, disappearing into it. Catastrophe grabbed the phone but crushed it in his grip when he realised Lady Wi-Fi wasn’t in it.

Lady Wi-Fi popped out some distance away.

Looking around, she realised she was in a tech store, thankfully already evacuated.

“Well, this is convenient.” She grinned, taking in all the laptops, phones and tablets.

Back with Catastrophe, he was getting increasingly angry, up-turning cars as if he’d find Nymph’s Champion under one of them.

“Come out and fight me, you coward!” He growled.

He was interrupted from his destruction by a giant screen appearing in the sky, Lady Wi-Fi’s face appearing on it.

“Looking for me, kitty cat?” Lady Wi-Fi spoke into the recording symbol in front of her, which was broadcasting her image onto the large screen. “Well, come and find me.”

She stepped back from the screen, revealing the tech shop behind her, which she entered.

Catastrophe growled again, quickly heading to the location of the tech shop, stopping outside.

 _‘This is probably a trap.’_ Said the rational part of his mind.

“I don’t care.” Catastrophe dismissed it, charging into the tech shop.

Inside, Lady Wi-Fi was no where to be seen, only rows and rows of phones, tablets and laptops.

As Catastrophe walked further inside, there was the familiar sound of Lady Wi-Fi’s teleport, he swung around only to be kicked in the mask, and when he swung his claws the Champion had already disappeared back into pixels.

Lady Wi-Fi then popped out of another phone, attacking before disappearing back into pixels again before Catastrophe could counter attack.

“What’s wrong?” Lady Wi-Fi taunted as she popped out of a tablet before disappearing. “Can’t keep up.” She popped out of a laptop.

Catastrophe growled as constant hits were rained down upon him, only barely able to dodge and block the symbols that were fired at him, he’s already had to slip out of his coat after it’d been locked to the ground. He smashed every device that was in reach, but there were still many in the store for Lady Wi-Fi to come out of and then disappear back into for safety.

The fight came to an end when Lady Wi-Fi popped out of a laptop far behind Catastrophe that he’d forgotten to smash, firing a locking symbol at him. The symbol hit his clawed gauntlet arm from where it was raised to attack where the Champion had previously been, pinning it to the wall.

“Game’s over.” Lady Wi-Fi declared, walking confidently over to where Catastrophe was frantically trying to free his arm.

She reached for the pinned arm with her gauntlet arm, eyes on the corrupt Miraculous. But in the heat of victory, she’d forgotten that the villain only had one arm pinned.

Lady Wi-Fi gasped when Catastrophe’s free hand latched onto her gauntlet, stopping her from reaching his ring, she then cried out in pain as he began to squeeze his hand. The gauntlet groaned, then cracked, and finally broke under the pressure.

Catastrophe released his grip, allowing Lady Wi-Fi to fall back, cradling her injured arm.

The Tiānshǐ fluttered out of the broken remains of the gauntlet, reverting the gauntlet back into a broken phone.

“No!” Lady Wi-Fi cried as purple light washed over her, reverting her back to Alya.

The Tiānshǐ flew as fast as it could away but was caught in a clawed hand. With Lady Wi-Fi gone, Catastrophe was no longer pinned.

“No you don’t, little butterfly.” Catastrophe said menacingly. “Cataclysm!”

Alya watched into horror as her Tiānshǐ flaked away in the villain’s grasp, falling to the ground as dust.

* * *

Nymph seized up in her throne, gasping her chest. She then screamed in agony, tears forcing there way through her tightly screwed eyes. Disoriented in her pain, she fell from her throne, curling up on the grass. Around her, her butterflies drifted to the ground, some landing on her and attempting to offer comfort with their feelers and what little strength they had themselves. But Nymph was unaware of them, lost in her own world of pain.

Eventually, the pain receded, but Nymph remained where she lay, eyes now wide open as she shivered, struggling to breath.

She continued to lie there, even as her Miraculous beeped and her de-transformation washed over her, leaving Marinette lying next to her wheelchair.

* * *

Catastrophe dusted his hands to get rid of the remains of the Tiānshǐ.

“That was satisfying.” He sighed.

He looked down at Alya, who was still cradling her arm while looking at the scattered dust that used to be her Tiānshǐ.

“Not even worth the bother.” He decided, walking away.

Picking up his coat and putting it back on, Catastrophe left the tech shop, jumping away.

It took a while for the emergency services to arrive at the scene after deciding that Catastrophe was no longer a threat, finding Alya still on the floor and bundling her up in blankets. The siren on the ambulance screeched to life as it took her away to hospital.

* * *

Far away, Catastrophe landed in his room, turning back into Adrien.

A shadow in the corner of his room moved and he quickly whipped around, ready to go on the defensive, but relaxed when he saw it was his mysterious friend.

“What did you do?” The stranger demanded, sounding none too happy.

“I defeated Nymph’s Champion.” Adrien answered happily, not picking up on the stranger’s dissatisfaction.

_Slap!_

Adrien’s head was forced to the side, he lifted up his hand to feel the red mark beginning to form.

“You destroyed her Tiānshǐ!” The Stranger said angrily. “We need them to find their mistress, they are worth nothing as dust.”

Adrien rubbed his cheek, looking at the stranger in betrayal.

“I’m…I’m sorry.” He apologised. “I guess I got carried away. I’ll do better next time.”

“Good, because if you don’t, I could easily give that ring to someone who won’t fail me.” The stranger threatened.

Adrien’s hand quickly covered his ring, hiding it from view as he looked at the stranger in fear.

“Please, don’t.” He begged.

The stranger suddenly smiled. “I won’t.” The said in something attempting comfort. “I only want for you to use your ring properly and to listen to me, you shouldn’t have to worry about anything as long as you do as I ask.

They walked up to Adrien, pulling him forcefully into a hug, resting the boy’s head against their chest.

“I will be here for you, I am the guardian of the Miraculous, meaning I will also guide those who I choose as wielders.” They said, stroking Adrien’s hair.

The embrace was awkward, uncomfortable and Adrien did not feel welcomed by it, but it was the first hug he’d gotten in such a long time and he took a twisted sense of comfort from it.

“Thank you.” He said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment.  
> Since Lady Wi-Fi isn’t a villainous sounding name and fits Alya quite well, I decided to keep it for Alya’s Champion form, only changing her outfit since it looks to evil to use, though I did try to stick to the original design as close as I could. You can find a rough drawing on my DeviantART.  
> https://dreamvixen2511.deviantart.com/art/Lady-Wi-Fi-as-a-Champion-742537587


	11. Recovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette and Alya are both too stubborn for their health

“Marinette?”

“Marinette!”

“MARINETTE!”

“Huh, what?” Marinette shot up in her wheelchair.

She looked up to see Chloe staring at her with a frown.

“You look terrible.” Chloe said bluntly. “Are you alright?” She put a hand to Marinette’s forehead.

Marinette took a few seconds to process what the blond was saying. In all honesty, she felt terrible, she couldn’t even muster the strength to get to her seat.

She’d felt completely out of it ever since yesterday when Catastrophe…destroyed her Tiānshǐ, the lack of sleep after she’d managed to gather enough will to get home didn’t help matters either. The worst part of it all had to be Nooroo though, loosing that Tiānshǐ had done something very bad to him.

“I’m fine, Chloe, I just didn’t get any sleep.” Marinette said.

Chloe eyed Marinette suspiciously, not believing her.

But she didn’t have time to call Marinette out, as the classroom suddenly went extremely quiet.

Alya walked in through the door, her lower arm in a bandage, she kept her head down as she made her way to her seat, slumping down into it.

The whispers then started, everyone trying to talk about what happened as quietly as possible.

“Will she be alright?” Rose whispered to Juleka.

“Do you think that butterfly thing getting killed had a bad effect on her.” Kim asked.

Marinette frowned.

“How does everyone know about what happened?” She asked.

“The tech shop where they fought released the security camera footage.” Nino answered, stopping by Chloe’s desk on the journey to his own. “Everyone knows what happened.”

“Oh, no.” Marinette said, looking up at Alya. “Help me up there.” She turned to Nino.

“Uh, but I thought you were on one of your off days.” He said, knowing that Marinette would have already been at her desk otherwise.

“Maybe, but I still want to be at my desk.” Marinette said.

Nino shrugged and helped Marinette out of her wheelchair, he ended up supporting most her weight as Marinette didn’t have the strength to support herself, but she thankfully didn’t weigh that much.

Marinette sighed in relief as she was placed down in her seat next to Alya.

“Thanks.” She said to Nino.

Nino tipped his cap and went to his own seat.

“Hey, Alya, are you alright?” Marinette asked her friend hesitantly.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Alya looked up at her, smiling.

But Marinette could see how her smile was stretched and the bags under her eyes.

A quick glance down at Chloe showed the same expression she gave her whenever Marinette lied about her health.

Adrien entered the classroom, passing by the girls without them noticing him and sitting at his desk next to Nino.

“What’s wrong?” He asked when he saw Nino’s frown.

“I’m just worried about Alya.” Nino said, prompting Adrien to look at said girl.

He frowned too when he saw the girl’s injured arm and clearly tired expression, guilt building up inside him.

 _‘I was too violent.’_ He admitted to himself, hand absentmindedly rubbing his cheek.

“I’m sure her arm will heal in no time.” Adrien said. “Maybe we can send her a get well soon gift.” He suggested. _‘That’s what you do in school, right?’_ He added in his head.

“It’s not just her arm, dude.” Nino said, shaking his head. “It’s the Kaleidoscoop.”

“Her blog about the new heroes?” Adrien asked. “What about it.”

“It’s been flooded with so many negative comments because she got defeated by Catastrophe.” Nino explained, bringing out his phone to show Adrien the blog.

“‘How are you meant to protect us when you can’t even protect yourself’, ‘Nymph’s not protecting us very well if she’s choosing people like you as her champions’, ‘Go kill yourself you failure’. Geeze.” Adrien was horrified as he read the comments left on Alya’s blog.

“Yeah.” Nino nodded in agreement. “There’s a few good comments in here, like ‘you tried your best’ and ‘don’t listen to the haters’. But they seem to be drowned out by all the negativity and are hard to find.”

“But it wasn’t Alya’s fault, Alya tried her best, Catastrophe just got the best of her.” Adrien defended the girl he had defeated the previous day.

“That’s people on the internet for you, dude.” Nino sighed. “They say mean things because they can get away with it. I’ve tried telling Alya to just take down the blog or at least turn off the comments so she doesn’t have to put up with them, but she said something about not censoring free speech and not wanting to show the commenters they’re getting to her.”

The two boys were then surprised by Chloe appearing in front of them, having overheard part of their conversation.

“What are they saying on her blog?” She demanded.

Nino just turned over his phone, allowing Chloe to read the comments for herself.

The blond’s face scrunched up as she read.

“That’s it!” She exploded.

She threw Nino’s phone back at him, which he was barely able to catch, and marched over to her desk, packing up her bag and then picking up Marinette’s.

“None of us are in any state to be in college today.” Chloe declared. “I was dropped off the Eiffel tower, you’re clearly ready to fall over at any moment.” She pointed at Marinette. “And you’re injured.” She pointed at Alya. “Sabrina, help Marinette to her wheelchair.”

Marinette protested as Sabrina helped her out of her seat. “Chloe, I don’t…”

“You are not fine, Marinette. You need to stop pushing yourself.” Chloe cut off her protests.

Marinette stopped her protests and allowed herself to be taken to her wheelchair.

“Come on, you too.” Chloe pulled Alya out of her seat when she saw that the girl wasn’t moving.

Alya was barely able to grab her bag as she was pulled away.

“Sabrina, do you mind staying and taking notes for us?” She turned to her friend, remembering to phrase it as a question to appease Marinette.

“Oh, uh, sure, Chloe.” Sabrina said.

“Let’s go then.” Chloe said, leading the way out the classroom, Marinette and Alya reluctantly following behind.

“What just happened?” Alya asked Marinette as they followed Chloe.

“Chloe tends to be a bit forceful, she usually does this if I try to come in when I’m having a really bad day.” Marinette explained. “Chloe, what are we even doing?” She asked.

“We are having a sleepover, a day of relaxation to destress over what happened.” Chloe proclaimed. “We’ll stop at your places for essentials then go to mine.”

Marinette and Alya felt as if they had no time to breath in the whirlwind of Chloe, and before they knew it, they were in Chloe’s room at her father’s hotel.

“Alright, I’ll leave you to change into your pyjamas.” Chloe said. “It’s not a sleepover if you’re in normal clothes. I’ll go order the cook to make us some snacks.”

Chloe then left.

“Uh, I’ll go use her bathroom.” Alya said, picking up her pyjamas “Will you be fine on your own?”

“Yeah.” Marinette said.

Once Alya left, Marinette sighed and looked into her purse.

“How are you doing, Nooroo?” She asked.

Nooroo looked up weakly at her. “Still weak.” He admitted.

“Would any food help?” Marinette asked.

Nooroo shook his head. “I don’t feel like eating.”

Marinette hummed. “This is bad. I can’t transform with you like this, meaning I can’t help if Catastrophe strikes again.”

“Without the Guardian, we’ll just have to hope I get better on my own.” Nooroo said.

“Would there be anyway I could work out where the Guardian is?” Marinette asked, hoping she could help her Kwami in some way.

Nooroo only shook his head.

Sighing, Marinette gently put her purse to the side and changed into her pyjamas with practiced ease.

Alya quickly joined her and it wasn’t long until Chloe was also back in the room.

“Alright, I’ve different flavours of ice cream coming up, you just have to tell Jean which you want, and chocolate brownie to accompany it.” Chloe said. “As for movies, I’ve got a nice selection of romantic comedies lined up.”

Alya watched as Chloe switched on her large TV, opening up a large selection of movies to scroll through.

“Why are you doing this?” She finally decided to ask.

“Hmm?” Chloe gave a questioning hum, not looking away from her search for the right movie.

“Why are you being so nice to me all of a sudden?” Alya reiterated. “We hardly know each other and didn’t exactly start on the best of terms, yet you’ve dragged me to your place for an impromptu sleepover.”

“I could already tell that you’re as stubborn as Marinette, it’s no wonder you two clicked so quickly actually. And I was already thinking of whisking Marinette after seeing her state, seeing how bad you were, I decided to bring you along too. I doubt you would have taken care of yourself properly if I’d left you alone.” Chloe said.

“It’s just a sprained wrist, I’m fine.” Alya dismissed.

“Please, I’ve seen the comments on your blog, and no amount of make-up can hide those bags. You are far from fine.” Chloe said pointedly.

A few years ago, Chloe would have been blind to the secret suffering of others, but after befriending Marinette she had learned the nuances of reading the face and body language for when Marinette was trying to get away with working hard when she was having a bad day.

Alya looked away, failing to comment.

“What comments?” Marinette asked.

“The usual stuff you expect from the monsters of the internet.” Chloe didn’t care to elaborate.

“Don’t listen to those people, Alya.” Marinette told her friend.

“Yeah.” Chloe joined in the encouragement. “I mean, not everyone can be as great as I was, and I’m sure you tried your best…” She trailed off when she saw the cutting motion Marinette made from behind Alya.

“What Chloe is trying to say is, you have no reason to listen to what those people say.” Marinette amended.

“But they’re right.” Alya finally broke. “Lady Nymph trusted me to defeat Catastrophe, but he defeated me instead. And worse, I let him destroy her Tiānshǐ.”

“That wasn’t your fault.” Marinette insisted.

“You haven’t seen the video.” Alya countered. “I had him, he was pinned down. But instead of pinning his other arm, I all but gave him full access to my item to break.”

Chloe opened her mouth but quickly closed it with a sharp look from Marinette. Alya definitely didn’t need the blond’s comments, whether she was trying to help or not.

“It was your first time as a hero, everyone makes mistakes.” Marinette said.

“Royal Phoenix was Chloe first time as a hero and she didn’t lose.” Alya bit out.

“Catastrophe also got away from her.” Marinette reminded.

“Hey!” Chloe protested.

Marinette bit her lip, realising that she’d offended her other friend slightly with that comment. But this was about making Alya feel better, and hopefully herself in turn.

“What I’m saying is, this is all still relatively new to everyone, Royal Phoenix caught Catastrophe off guard, while he was more prepared for Lady Wi-Fi. Whoever Nymph chose to be her second champion could have ended up the same way.” Marinette continued.

“They could have also not let their Tiānshǐ be destroyed.” Alya said.

Marinette sighed, Chloe was right about Alya being stubborn.

“Alya-” She began.

“You don’t understand.” Alya cut in. “I felt it. When Catastrophe destroyed my Tiānshǐ, I could feel Lady Nymph’s pain as it turned to dust, and her suffering was because of me!”

“Now you listen here!” Chloe forced her way into the conversation, grabbing Alya’s face to make the girl look her in the eye.

“It was not your fault the Tiānshǐ was destroyed! Did you want your item to be broken?”

“No.” Alya answered.

“Were you the one to turn it into dust?”

“No.” Alya tried to look away, but Chloe kept her looking at her.

“Then it is not your fault.” Chloe declared. “So stop blaming yourself. It’s pathetic.”

“Chloe!” Marinette exclaimed.

To her surprise, Alya laughed.

“Yeah, I guess it is.” She said, wiping away tears. “I guess I listened to too many of the wrong people.”

“That’s right. Now, let’s get you clean up, and then we can enjoy some ice-cream to cheer us up.” Chloe said.

Chloe dragged Alya back into her bathroom to clean her face of tears.

“What just happened?” Marinette questioned.

Nooroo popped out of her purse, despite how weak he was.

“Sometimes, it takes someone who’s tactless to get through to someone who’s stubborn.” He said. “If someone’s clinging onto their self-doubt, they need to be forced to let go.”

“I suppose.” Marinette said. “I’m just glad it didn’t backfire.”

“Yeah.” Nooroo nodded.

He disappeared back into Marinette’s purse as Chloe and Alya returned.

The girls settled down with their ice-cream after it arrived, choosing a bad romance movie so that they could make fun of it as they watched.

* * *

“You should be sleeping.”

Marinette looked over to Nooroo from where she sat up in the bed she was given for the sleepover.

Both Chloe and Alya were asleep, the girls had spent the entire day watching movies and eating snack food before settling down for the night.

“Sorry, I’m not feeling all that restful.” Marinette said.

“Are you still feeling the effects?” Nooroo asked, climbing onto Marinette’s lap and into her hands.

“A bit.” Marinette admitted. “It’s fading but it’s still there.”

Marinette placed a hand over her chest.

“It’s always been hard on my chosen when they lose their Tiānshǐ, but you will be well again, soon enough.” Nooroo told her.

“Will this happen again?” Marinette asked, biting her lip. “If Catastrophe destroys another of my Tiānshǐ?”

Nooroo shook his head. “You will still feel the sadness of loss, but now that it’s happened once, you can cut yourself off before you feel the pain through the connection.”

“It’s still so sad, for my Tiānshǐ to lose its life like that.” Marinette said.

“I know.” Nooroo said. “That is one thing that never gets easier. They may be just butterflies, but we all still share a connection and they are ours.”

Marinette looked over at Alya.

“Will she be okay?” She asked. “Did she get any feedback? She said that she felt my pain.”

Nooroo shook his head. “The connection with your Champion had already broken with the breaking of her item, losing her Tiānshǐ wouldn’t have affected her, what she felt was just echoes. Though, that doesn’t make her mental trauma or injury any less real.” He said.

“Yeah.” Marinette agreed. “Chloe may have snapped her out of it, but I can tell she still feels guilty. Even when you know something isn’t true, you can’t help how you feel.”

“The best you can do is continue being there for her.” Nooroo advised. “And act as a buffer for those negative comments she’s getting.

“I’ll offer to take over management of her blog until it dies down and do some comment control while I’m at it.” Marinette said. “Though, perhaps I can do a little something more.” An idea came to her.

“What?” Nooroo asked.

“You’ll see.” Marinette smiled as she dragged herself over to Chloe’s stationary draw.

* * *

Alya was the first to wake up in the morning, being unable to return to sleep.

She was about to take out her phone to busy herself until Marinette and Chloe woke up when she noticed something in the corner of her eye.

Walking over to a side table, she saw a white butterfly lazily flapping its wings, perched on top of an envelope.

 _‘To Alya’_ It said on the envelope.

The butterfly fluttered off as Alya picked the envelope up, circling around her.

Alya opened the envelope and pulled out a letter, which she began to read.

_‘Dear Alya_

_I know you feel guilt for what happened, but I am here to tell you that you have no need to._

_I do not blame you for the loss of my Tiānshǐ, so no one else should blame you either._

_You are someone who is strong and kind, that is why I chose you in the first place. And I know that you will use that strength and kindness to do great things, even if it is without my guiding hand. Remember that you are what you make yourself to be, not what others say you are._

_Know that those who accuse you have no place to judge, and so what they say should be discarded. All that matters is the encouragement of your friends, who will be there for you where I cannot._

_Lovingly_

_Lady Nymph’_

Next to the signature was a drawing of a purple butterfly.

A tear splashed down onto it.

Despite her tears, Alya smiled, her heart feeling lighter. Marinette and Chloe had already helped to pull it from the depths she had let it fall into, Nymph’s letter had just helped it that little bit higher.

“Thank you.” She said to the butterfly circling around her head.

It circled around her once more before flying out of the window.

Through a crack in her eyelid, Marinette watched Alya with a smile.

She then closed her eye, settling back down, she was still very tired.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment  
> I’m trying my best to keep Chloe’s redemption natural. Make it clear that despite her break through, she still has a bit to go and keeping her personality intact. So, she’s turned from her bully, to the forceful friend type of person who will disregard someone’s protests if she thinks it’s for their own good and is entirely tactless.  
> I noticed that the Miraculous heroes and villains have two part names, so having Marinette as just Nymph sounds off. So, I’ve incorporated ‘lady’ into her name to make it sound better. In universe reason for this is it’s just something the former Champions add that begins to catch on, since they refer to her as their lady, Marinette’s hero name becomes Lady Nymph.


	12. The Guardian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette meets someone important

Marinette’s head bopped to the music her computer was playing as she worked on her latest personal project, carefully pulling the needle in and out of the fabric.

After finishing a set of stitches, Marinette put her work down to eat some lunch. As she bit down into an apple, she turned to look at her Kwami.

Nooroo’s own food sat untouched in front of him, the Kwami slumped over as if all energy had been sucked out of him.

“Come on, Nooroo.” Marinette pleaded to him. “You need to eat something if you’re going to get better.”

“I just don’t feel like it.” Nooroo mumbled.

Marinette frowned, her Kwami wasn’t getting any better.

The music video playing on her computer finished, giving way to some news.

_“There have still been no leads on the attacker of an old man. The man was found in the early morning a week ago by joggers and was taken to the hospital in a critical condition but has since been stabilised. If you have any information on him or his attacker, please contact the police.”_

“Marinette! Pause that!” Nooroo suddenly burst to life.

Marinette paused the video feed, her screen frozen on the image of an old man lying on a hospital bed.

“What is it?” She asked her Kwami.

Nooroo flew over to the screen, faltering on the way from lack of energy.

“I know him.” Nooroo said. “He was at the temple before I became separated from the others in the disaster.”

“Does that mean he’s the Guardian?” Marinette asked.

“He could be.” Nooroo said. “But either way, he could help us.”

“Let’s go then.” Marinette said.

She scooped Nooroo up and put him in her bag, pushing over to the chairlift and taking it downstairs.

* * *

“So, you’re here to see mister Fu?” The receptionist at the hospital. “What is your relationship with him?”

“I’m his granddaughter.” Marinette lied. “He lives on his own, so I only just found out about his accident.”

“And what’s your name?”

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

“Oh. Okay.” The receptionist said, giving Marinette the room number she needed.

Marinette frowned slightly as she wheeled towards the lifts. Sometimes there was an advantage to being a minority as one could take advantage of assumptions, but it didn’t make it feel any better.

“Are you ready, Nooroo?” Marinette asked her Kwami.

Nooroo nodded from her purse.

Marinette pushed herself into the room, where the old man from the TV lay, slightly propped up on the bed, seemingly asleep.

“Um, Mister Fu?”

Fu groaned before opening an eye and looking at Marinette.

“Oh, hello.” He said. “What are you doing in here? I don’t think you’re a nurse.” He smiled.

“You’re Fu Wang, right?” Marinette asked. “From the order of the Guardians?”

Fu sat up straighter, wincing slightly in pain.

“How do you know that?” He asked.

“Because he told me to find you.” Marinette said.

She opened her purse and gently lifted Nooroo out, showing the Kwami to the man.

Fu gasped.

“Nooroo? Is that really you?”

Marinette pushed herself over to the bed, placing her Kwami on the Guardian’s open palm.

“Hello, Wang.” Nooroo said. “You’ve grown a lot since we last saw each other.”

“I didn’t know if I’d ever see you again.” Fu said. “I’m sorry for what happened.”

Nooroo shook his head. “It’s in the past. Right now, we need to focus on the present.” He said.

“Right.” Fu agreed.

He then looked at Marinette.

“Since you have Nooroo with you, I’m guessing that you’re Nymph.” He said to her.

Marinette looked at Nooroo, he nodded his head, and nodded her own.

“I am.” She said.

“I will want to know how you found him, but that can wait for another time.” Fu said. “What we should focus on now is Catastrophe and the other Miraculous.”

“What happened?” Nooroo asked. “How did the Cat Miraculous fall into the hands of evil and become corrupted?”

“It’s not just the Cat Miraculous.” Fu admitted. “It’s all of them. I was attacked and they were taken.”

“No!” Nooroo cried.

“I’m afraid so.” Fu said.

“So, it’s not just the ring I have to find then?” Marinette asked.

“Right now, we only know the location of the ring, with Catastrophe. The other Miraculous’ will still be with who attacked me, which is a mystery. They will have the Fox, Bee and Turtle, ready to use at any time.”

“What about Duusu and Tikki?” Nooroo asked.

“As far as I know, the one who took the others don’t have them, but I have no idea where they are either.” Fu said. “The Peacock Miraculous has been missing for as long as you have, while Wayzz managed to hide away the earrings during my fight with the thief before he disappeared, but I don’t know where.”

“So, I need to look for earrings? What do they look like?” Marinette asked.

“They are red with five black spots.” Fu answered.

“That should be easy to find.” Marinette said with sarcasm.

“Nooroo will be able to recognise them.” Fu assured. “If we manage to find the earrings and also someone with a good heart to give them to, you will have one more in the fight against Catastrophe as well as a way to undo the corruption placed on the ring.”

“The Miraculous can do that?”

“One of Tikki’s powers is purification. So, in the right conditions, she would be able to undo what has been done to Plagg and his Miraculous.” Nooroo explained.

“That’s good. I hadn’t thought about what I’d do with the ring once I got it, just getting it off Catastrophe.” Marinette said. “What about the other Miraculous’?”

“They will be revealed in time.” Fu said. “If you manage to retrieve the ring, it is doubtless that another Miraculous will be corrupted to get it back. With any luck, this stranger will reveal themselves and you can take all of the Miraculous’ at once before they are all corrupted.”

Marinette sighed heavily, it seemed a lot for her to be expected to do.

“Don’t worry.” Nooroo assured her. “If we manage to find the Ladybug Miraculous, you’ll have an ally to fight beside. And, remember, even without another Miraculous, you are never alone, you’re Champion is with you just as you are with them.”

Marinette smiled at her Kwami.

The moment was ruined by Nooroo suddenly coughing.

“Ah, yes, I had noticed you were sick.” Fu said. “I probably should have helped you first.” He looked around. “I don’t have my usual therapy equipment, but I’m sure we can make do.”

Fu had Marinette wheel around the room, picking up some medical objects and deposit them on his bed, he then fashioned them into a makeshift gong and stick.

Marinette then waited as Fu banged the gong and held his hands over Nooroo, performing some sort of meditation.

“That should do it.” Fu eventually said.

“That’s it?” Marinette asked in wonder.

“Nooroo’s energy was out of sorts, it just needed to be balanced. He should show improvement soon.” Fu said.

Marinette took Nooroo from him.

“How are you feeling?” She asked her Kwami.

“Hungry.” Nooroo said, accompanied by his belly rumbling.

Marinette and Fu laughed.

“I better get him some food.” Marinette said. “Thank you.”

“You are welcome.” Fu said. “Come back soon.”

Marinette nodded and pushed herself out of the room.

* * *

Marinette inspected the window of a second-hand shop, looking over the jewellery on display.

“Do you think this is the best way to find them?” Nooroo asked as he munched on the grapes from a fruit cup.

“It’s the best place I can think for them showing up.” Marinette answered. “It’s most likely that they’re just lying around in a tree or something, but hopefully someone found them and gave them to one of these shops. Is there anyway of tracking them down?”

“Unfortunately not.” Nooroo answered. “If they are lying around in some random place, one of our butterflies will hopefully find and tell us.”

He looked up to see one of his butterflies flying overhead, most of them were out scouring the city for any hint of the red and black earrings. But even with an entire army of searchers, the chances of finding the earrings was very small.

“I wonder if I can make a champion with the ability to find the Miraculous’ for me.” Marinette muttered to herself, not being serious.

“Hey, Mari! What are you doing?”

Marinette turned her head to see Chloe and Alya walking towards her.

“Hey. What are you two doing together?” She asked suspiciously.

Chloe and Alya may have become closer due to the sleepover, but Marinette hadn’t expected them to be around each other of their own will just yet.

“Sabrina wasn’t available, I can’t remember why.” Chloe said. “I saw Alya and thought hanging around her was better than being alone.”

“Gee, thanks.” Alya said sarcastically.

“So, what are you looking for? And why are looking in a second-hand shop?” Chloe asked.

“Oh, uh. I’m looking for a pair of earrings.” Marinette said.

“Why not go to a jewellery shop then, they’ll give you much better that anything here?” Chloe’s nose scrunched up in distaste.

“It’s something specific that someone I know lost, so I’m hoping they’ll turn up in one of these shops.” Marinette explained.

“What do they look like?” Alya asked.

“Red with black dots, they’re meant to look like ladybug shells.” Marinette said, hoping she wasn’t risking anything in telling her friends.

“You certainly have your work cut out for you.” Alya said. “Well, I happen to spot them, I’ll tell you.”

“Thanks.” Marinette said.

“Anyway.” Chloe interrupted. “I have something to show you.” She sang.

“What?” Marinette asked.

“Follow me.” Chloe said.

Chloe led Marinette and Alya through the city, as she pushed her chair, Marinette realised that the path was familiar. Eventually, they arrived at the Butterfly mansion and Chloe pushed the gate open.

“Tada!” She held her hands open to the building.

“What?” Marinette asked, wondering why Chloe was showing her the mansion.

“Notice anything different?” Chloe hinted.

“Uh…” Marinette stared at the building. “Oh, the scaffolding’s gone.”

“Yep!” Chloe said happily. “They just finished renovations today. Your mansion is now perfectly liveable.”

“Wait.” Alya said. “Her mansion?”

“Yes, Marinette’s mansion.” Chloe said proudly. “She inherited it. But we tragically couldn’t do anything with it due to renovations that needed to be done.”

“You didn’t say this was yours.” Alya said to Marinette.

“I didn’t want to seem like I was boasting.” Marinette explained.

“Enough chat, let’s go inside.” Chloe said.

They opened the door using a key Chloe had, citing that Marinette said she could have a copy when asked by Alya.

The main hall wasn’t much different that when Marinette had last been there, though there were some areas where work had been done such as the walls. And Chloe explained as they explored about the modern wiring and pipes that had been installed and the renovations that had to be done to accommodate for them.

“Ugh.” Chloe complained as she took in the dust and dirt that caked everything. “Did they not bother to even brush after they were done? We’ll need to hire a cleaning crew as soon as possible.”

“What are you even going to do with this place?” Alya asked as she looked around.

“I don’t know.” Marinette admitted. “My family and I are happy where we live, so we’re not going to move in. I do like the gardens, but I don’t know what else I could use this place for.”

“I’ll tell you what we’re going to use this place for.” Chloe said. “A party. To celebrate the renovations finally being finished.”

“I don’t know.” Marinette said hesitantly.

“Come on. You’ve got this huge building, you may as well use it.” Chloe begged. “You might even get an idea for how to use your mansion while you’re at it.”

Marinette sighed. “Fine.” She said.

Chloe smiled in victory.

“But…” Marinette help up her hand. “I want everyone from the college to be invited, no leaving anyone out, no matter how much you don’t like them.”

Chloe pouted. “Fine.” She acquiesced.

Chloe then stepped out with her phone to begin the preparations.

“You should tell her no if you don’t want a party.” Alya advised.

“I would.” Marinette said. “But I don’t really mind. Like Chloe said, I may as well use it for something. The best I can think of is to rent it out to other people, but I have no experience in that area.”

“Marinette the landlady.” Alya joked, holding her hands out as if she was imagining it.

“Definitely can’t see that.” Marinette joked back.

Marinette pushed herself towards the new elevator.

“Come on, we haven’t checked out the top floors yet.” She said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment  
> Tada, Fu’s not dead and now Marinette’s on the look out for the Ladybug Miraculous.  
> This chapter feels too short and I’m not really satisfied with it, but it’s the best I can do with it, I hate it when that happens.  
> Anyway, next chapter is back to the action.


End file.
